Species: Dryocopus pileatus

Pileated Woodpecker

Species

Birds

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Species of concern in the Puget Sound watershed

Terrestrial vertebrates: birds

Encyclopedia of Puget Sound

VOCALIZATIONS: a loud, characteristic kuk-kuk-kuk-kuk; drumming a deep resonant roll that carries a kilometer or more.

Classification

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Craniata

Class

Aves

Order

Piciformes

Family

Picidae

Genus

Dryocopus

NatureServe

Source:
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.102132

Classification

Other Global Common Names

grand pic

Informal Taxonomy

Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Other Birds

Formal Taxonomy

Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Piciformes - Picidae - Dryocopus - Four geographic races recognized by AOU (1957): D. P. PILEATUS - midwest U.S. to south Atlantic and Gulf coasts; D. P. PICINUS - British Columbia to California, Montana, south to north Arizona and southwest New Mexico; D. P. ABIETICOLA - northeast British Columbia, across Canada and northern U.S. to maritimes and northeast U.S.; and D. P. FLORIDANUS - Florida peninsula. Two geographic races were recognized by Short (1982) and Winkler et al. (1995): D. P. ABIETICOLA from western and northern areas, and D. P. PILEATUS from eastern and southern areas.

Ecology and Life History

VOCALIZATIONS: a loud, characteristic kuk-kuk-kuk-kuk; drumming a deep resonant roll that carries a kilometer or more.

Short General Description

A very large (42 cm long) crested woodpecker.

Migration

true - false - false - Although generally considered to be a resident species, there is evidence of some migratory movement in the northern part of its range. Hall (1983) reported a small southward movement of pileated woodpeckers in fall along the Allegheny Front of West Virginia. Sutton (1930) also noted gradual southward movement in fall through New York state. In British Columbia, the paucity of winter records in the northern half of the province indicates that many breeding individuals there move considerable distances to the south (Campbell et al. 1990).

Non-migrant

true

Locally Migrant

false

Food Comments

Feeds extensively on carpenter ants (CAMPONOTUS spp.) and beetle larvae obtained by chiseling into standing trees, stumps, and logs; also digs into anthills on ground and eats other insects, fruits, and seeds (Hoyt 1957). In Wisconsin, Nicholls (1994) found the cerambycid wood borer, TRIGONARTHRIS, to be the major prey of pileated woodpeckers feeding at dead American elms (ULMUS AMERICANA). The preference of the birds for feeding at larger trees seemed related to the requirement of the beetles for larger trees as their habitat. There tends to be seasonal variation in the diet and foraging strategy to take advantage of available foods. More fruit and seeds are taken in late summer and fall (Conner 1979, Hoyt 1948, Sprunt and Chamberlain 1970); more excavation for arthropods is done in winter (Conner 1979, Hoyt 1948, Pfitzenmeyer 1956, Tanner 1942). Quantitative studies of diet include stomach content and scat analysis. In a range-wide, year-round study, Beal (1911) found 80 stomachs to include 22% beetles (Cerambycidae, Buprestidae, Elateridae, Lucanidae, Scarabaeidae, Carabidae), 40% ants (CAMPONOTUS sp., CREMATOGASTER sp.), 11% other insects, and 27% vegetable (numerous fruits, see Bull and Jackson 1995). Analyses of 330 scats in Oregon revealed 68% carpenter ants, 29% thatching ants (FORMICA), 0.4% beetles, and 2% other. The species is opportunistic, known to take advantage of insect outbreaks (e.g., western spruce budworm (CHORISTONEURA OCCIDENTALIS) Bull and Jackson 1995), the progression of fruiting trees in an area (Stoddard 1978), and to visit suet feeders in many areas of eastern North America (Connecticut, Hardy 1958; Mississippi, Jackson, pers. obs.; Tennessee, Spofford 1947; Georgia, Stoddard 1978; Minnesota, Tusler 1958 ). Logs and stumps are important foraging substrates in many areas (e.g., Mannan 1984, Renken and Wiggers 1989, Schardien and Jackson 1978), but Aubry and Raley (1992) rarely observed foraging on logs in closed canopy forests of western Washington. Mannan (1984) found the pileated to forage on dead wood substrates 96% of the time.

Reproduction Comments

Pairs share a territory year round (Bull and Jackson 1995). On warm days of February and early March in the southeastern U.S. and March through early April in northern areas there is an increase in vocalizations and drumming associated with pair formation and increased territoriality. Vocalizations and drumming take place with greatest frequency in early morning and late afternoon (Hoyt 1941). Courtship behavior is described in detail by Kilham (1979, 1983), with additional details and circumstances by Arthur (1934), Hoyt (1944), and Oberman (1989). Nest construction, egg-laying, hatching, and fledging are also progressively later from south to north (Bull and Jackson 1995) and likely from lower to higher altitudes (at least in California, Harris 1982). Early egg dates in the southern U.S. are in early March; late egg dates, from northern areas, are in mid-June. Similarly, nestlings have been found from mid-May in the southeast to mid-July in the north (Bull and Jackson 1995, Peterjohn 1989). Young remain with adults at least through late summer or early fall. Clutch size is usually 3-4 throughout the range (Bent 1939, Christy 1939); a clutch of 6 was reported by Audubon and Chevalier (1842). Incubation takes 15-19 days (Bendire 1895, Hoyt 1944, Kilham 1979), by both sexes. Young are tended by both parents, leave nest at 22-26 days (Hoyt 1944, Bull and Jackson 1995). Longevity records thus far include several birds surviving for 9 years (Bull and Jackson 1995, Bull and Meslow 1988, Hoyt and Hoyt 1951, Hoyt 1952). However, through 1981, there had only been 15 recoveries from a total of 670 banded (Clapp et al. 1983), thus it is quite possible that this species could live much longer.

Ecology Comments

In Missouri, population density varied from 0.5 to 4.1 territories per 100 ha, with the highest densities of birds positively correlated with increasing area of old growth bottom land forest, increasing canopy closure, and increasing density of snags greater than 0.54 cm dbh (Renken and Wiggers 1993). In western Oregon, mature forests support higher populations than do younger forests (Mannan et al. 1980). In Missouri, territory sizes ranged from 53-160 ha, and territory size decreased with increasing percent forest overstory canopy cover, increasing saw timber cover, and log and stump volume (Renken and Wiggers 1989). In conifer forests of northeastern Oregon, home range was 128-240 ha (Bull and Meslow 1977). Home range in New York varied in radius from 4.8 to 6.4 km in a mixed conifer-hardwood forest (Hoyt 1957) [Note: these data do not appear in the cited Hoyt 1957]. Parasites have rarely been reported, but include the following. Humpbacked flies (Phoridae), were found on nestlings in New York (Hoyt 1957). TOUCANECTES DRYOCOPI, a subcutaneous mite, was found in the head and neck region of Louisiana birds (Pence 1971). In Oregon nests, Wilson and Bull (1977) found DERMANYSSUS GALLINOIDES, a mite (Mesostigmata: Laelaptoidea) and CARNUS HEMAPTERUS, and a fly (Diptera: Milichiidae). Collins et al. (1966) identified two blood parasites, PLASMODIUM sp. and HAEMOPROTEUS sp. from a South Carolina bird. Nickol (1969) examined three Louisiana pileateds for Acanthocephala, but found none.

Length

Weight

308

Conservation Status

NatureServe Global Status Rank

Global Status Last Reviewed

1996-12-02

Global Status Last Changed

1996-12-02

Other Status

LC - Least concern

Distribution

Conservation Status Map

Global Range

H - >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles) - H - RESIDENT: from southern and eastern British Columbia and southwestern Mackenzie across southern Canada to Quebec and Nova Scotia, south in Pacific states to central California, in the Rocky Mountains to Idaho and western Montana, in the central and eastern U.S. to the eastern Dakotas, Gulf Coast, and southern Florida, and west in the eastern U.S. to Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas (AOU 1983). Absent from or very limited in much of northern Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. In the Great Plains, found primarily along the eastern edge in bottomland forests along major streams. In recent years, however, there have been increasing numbers of records farther west than illustrated in Bull and Jackson (1995). In Oklahoma these include records west to Major, Caddo, Woodward, and Comanche counties, Oklahoma (Ely 1990, Baumgartner and Baumgartner 1992, McGee and Neeld 1972, Powders 1986). Also reported from Nebraska (Rapp 1953), a return after disappearance at the end of the last century. Maps in Winkler et al. (1995) show the species much farther north in western Canada than known. See also range map for Canada in Godfrey (1986). There are many extralimital records. In the east, occurs from sea level to 1500+ m in the Appalachians; in California to about 2300 m (Short 1982).

Global Range Code

Global Range Description

>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)

ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.102132