Pileated Woodpecker: a two-minute wildlife lesson

Clever Birds · day 6 of 7

Five facts

1. It is the largest confirmed woodpecker in North America, and the third-largest living woodpecker in the world.
2. It is about the size of a crow, mostly black, with a bright red crest and a white stripe down its neck.
3. Hunting for insects, it chips big, roughly rectangular holes in trees. Nest holes in dead trees can even make a small tree snap in half.
4. Its favourite food hides inside wood: carpenter ants and wood-boring beetle larvae. It licks up ants with its long tongue.
5. It will nest in a box placed about 4.6 m off the ground, but it usually digs its own big nest hole in a dead tree.

The quiz

1. Where does the pileated woodpecker rank among living woodpeckers by size?

• Third-largest worldwide (correct)
• Smallest worldwide
• Largest worldwide
• Tenth-largest worldwide

It is the third-largest living woodpecker worldwide.

2. About how big is a pileated woodpecker?

• The size of a crow (correct)
• The size of a sparrow
• The size of a goose
• The size of a hummingbird

It is about the size of a crow.

3. What shape are the holes it chips in trees?

• Perfectly round
• Long and thin
• Roughly rectangular (correct)
• Star-shaped

It chips big, roughly rectangular holes while hunting insects.

4. What is its favourite food hidden inside wood?

• Small fish
• Mice
• Tree frogs
• Carpenter ants and beetle larvae (correct)

It mainly eats carpenter ants and wood-boring beetle larvae.

5. Where does it usually nest?

• Take over old crow nests
• Carve its own chambers in dead trunks (correct)
• Nest on the ground
• Build nests of mud

It usually digs its own big nest hole in a dead tree.

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