![]() The big woodpeckers sometimes tolerate smaller birds, such as Chimney Swifts, sharing their nesting cavities. Nest cavities are rarely reused by the Pileateds, but the holes provide crucial nesting and roosting places for many other bird species, including the Wood Duck, Eastern Bluebird, and Eastern Screech-Owl, as well as bats, raccoons, and other mammals. Both incubate the eggs and feed the chicks, which fledge after about a month, then remain dependent on their parents for several months more. Both sexes hammer out the site, and can often be observed tossing beakfuls of wood chips from the nest hole as they dig. Pileated Woodpeckers also excavate nesting cavities, usually around 50 feet up in large dead trees. Even if they use the same tree, each bird has its own roosting cavity - probably because their large size would make sharing a cavity an uncomfortable proposition! Roost trees tend to have multiple entrances to allow birds to escape predators. Photo by Collins93, ShutterstockĪlthough Pileated Woodpecker pairs share a territory throughout the year, male and female birds roost separately at night. ![]() Or does it perhaps sound like a ramped-up Acorn Woodpecker? You make the call - compare Woody with both species below! Lantz's wife Gracie suggested that Walter make a cartoon character of the bird - and so Woody was created.īut credit is due to to the Pileated Woodpecker as well: Woody's shaggy red top-knot much more closely resembles a Pileated Woodpecker, and the cartoon character's characteristic laugh, originally voiced by Mel Blanc of Warner Brothers fame, sounds more like a Pileated Woodpecker's call as well. It turns out that the popular mid-20th century cartoon character Woody Woodpecker was actually inspired by a persistent Acorn Woodpecker that staged a cameo during animator Walter Lantz's honeymoon, calling and drumming at the couple's cabin. The cartoon connection is a bit more involved. Why is the bird is named “pileated?” There's a simple reason behind that: It derives from the Latin pileatus, meaning "capped." Just one glance at this bird's bright crest explains the name. In the United States, only the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, likely extinct, was bigger. This is the largest of North American woodpeckers. With flashing black-and-white wings and a bright red crest, when a crow-sized Pileated Woodpecker swoops by, even the most experienced birders stop in their tracks. Map by Birds of the World, maintained by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. White chin.The Pileated Woodpecker is resident across its range.Crow-sized bird, approximately 16½ inches long. ![]()
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