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Pileated Woodpecker
Dryocopus pileatus
 The largest woodpecker in North America. This elegant woodpecker is often shy and hard to
observe but there is a good chance of hearing or even seeing one of these great birds at Peckerwood Knob Cabins in Oklahoma. Primarily a forest bird, its presence is most easily
detected by its loud, ringing call and by its large, characteristically rectangular excavations in trees. Its staple food consists of carpenter ants living in fallen timber, dead
roots, and stumps. The woodpecker excavates fist-sized rectangular cavities, then uses its enormously long, sticky tongue to reach the ant burrows.
Description:
17" (43 cm). A crow-sized woodpecker. Black with white neck stripes, conspicuous white
wing linings, and prominent red crest. Male has red "mustache," female has black.
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