SOUTHERN PILEATED WOODPECKER

HABITS

The above name is now restricted to the pileated woodpeckers of the Lower Austral forests of the Southern United States, except southern Florida, east of the Rocky Mountains. When Outram Bangs (1898) applied the name abieticola, to the northern race, he said: “Linnaeus based his Picus pileatus on Catesby and Kalm. Taking Catesby as the best authority, southern South Carolina must be considered the type locality of the species, and birds from this region are as extreme of the southern race as those from Florida.”

The southern pileated woodpecker is decidedly smaller than the northern bird and somewhat darker in coloration. Ridgway (1914) says of this race, in a footnote: “Some of the more northern examples are quite as slaty as the extreme northern form (P. p. abieticola) but they are distinctly smaller. In other words, I have restricted the name pileatus to an intermediate form, characterized by the small size of P. p. floridanus combined with an appreciably lighter (more slaty or sooty) coloration, often approaching closely the lightness of hue of P. p. abieticola.”

Arthur T. Wayne (1910) says that in South Carolina “this fine species is abundant wherever the forest is of a primeval nature, but where the heavy growth has been cut away it is seldom met with.” Wright and Harper (1913), writing of its haunts in southern Georgia, say: “With the exception of the red-bellied woodpecker, this is the most abundant member of its family in the Okefinokee. In fact, we saw as many as four Pileated Woodpeckers in a single tree. In every part of the swamp—especially the cypress bays, but also the hammocks and the piny woods on the islands, and even the ‘heads’ on the prairies—these magnificent birds are at home.”

George Finlay Simmons (1925) says that in the Austin region of Texas this woodpecker lives in the “wilder country only; cypress swamps, and the most heavily timbered bottomlands, generally in very thinly settled sections; post oak woods on gravelly river terraces; edges of woodland meadows; along margins of both large and small streams; Austroriparian forests; in or near edges of timber, venturing out onto fields to feed.”

Charles R. Stockard (1904) says of his experience with this species in Mississippi:

During three seasons seventeen nests were watched in Adams County. In the vicinity where observations were made every small woods had its pair of these large woodpeckers. The individuals of this species seemed to occupy very small feeding areas. Of the seven nests that were found in 1902 five pairs of the birds were located in their respective woods during the previous December and January. Whenever a pair was once seen feeding in a wood during the winter the same pair could always be found very close to that place. At the beginning of the nesting season they would invariably make their burrow in some dead but sound tree near the edge of the brake. From continued observation it appeared certain that whenever a pair were found in a small wood during the winter they were sure to nest there the following spring. * * *

In four instances, all of which had lost their eggs the year before, the birds built their new burrows in their several woods within a distance of about one quarter of a mile from the previous nest site. These four are the only cases which were watched with special care.

Nesting.—The only nests of this race that I have seen were shown to me by A. T. Wayne, on May 19, 1915, near Mount Pleasant, S. C. They were in tall, dead pine trees (Pinus taeda) in a heavily forested region of open, mixed woods. One was 43 feet from the ground; he had taken three fresh eggs from this nest on April 24, 1915. The other I estimated as over 60 feet up, but he said it was 80 feet from the ground; it probably held young at that time, as both birds were much in evidence and very noisy. Mr. Wayne told me that these two pairs of birds had nested in this tract of timber for many years. He writes (1910) regarding their nesting habits:

If the season is a forward one the birds mate early in February and towards the latter part of the month begin to excavate their hole, which requires exactly a month for completion. During the month of March, 1904, I made observations on a pair which excavated their hole in a dead pine. On March 21, the opening was commenced by the female, who drilled a small hole, and by degrees enlarged it to the size of a silver dollar. The male assisted in the excavation, but the female did by far the larger part of the work. The size of the aperture was not increased until necessary to admit the shoulders of the bird. I visited these birds every day in order to note the progress of their work, and, being so accustomed to seeing me, they were utterly fearless and I could, at any time, approach within twenty feet without hindering the work, although the hole was only about thirty feet from the ground. This hole was completed on April 21, and the first egg was laid the following morning. * * * In this case the excavation was made under a dead limb, and was about eighteen inches deep, being hollowed out more on one side than the other. This woodpecker is so attached to the tree in which it has first made its nest that it continues to cling to it as long as it can find a suitable spot at which to excavate a new hole. It never uses the same hole a second time. I know of a pair of these birds which resorted to the same tree for four consecutive years, and each year they excavated a new hole. * * *

If this bird is deprived of its first set of eggs, it at once excavates a new hole, and the length of time consumed in its construction is about twenty-five days. A curious habit is that even when it is incubating or brooding its young, this bird frequently taps in its hole as if excavating.

Vernon Sharpe, Jr. (1932), says that in Tennessee “for a nesting site a dead tree is invariably selected and preferably one of large size, from which the branches have fallen. The cavity is situated from 20 to 85 feet above the ground, with a depth ranging from 20 to 26 inches. Generally the four-inch opening is broader at the base and angular at the top, forming somewhat of a triangular shape. While incubating, this species will continue to enlarge the nest cavity, as was proved by personal experience.”

M. G. Vaiden writes to me that the pileated woodpecker is fairly common in certain localities near Rosedale, Miss. He has located seven nests in cypress, sycamore, hackberry, or sweetgum trees, at estimated heights ranging from 60 to 75 feet. His nesting dates range from April 14 to April 29.

Of the nest location, in Texas, Mr. Simmons (1925) says: “Cavity in upper part, usually 30 to 60 feet from ground, in solid trunk of live, sound tree, less commonly in dead or partly dead limbs or trunks, generally tall cottonwood, cypress, elm, or oak, on the edge of woods or in marginal timber skirting stream, and usually easily located by the half-bushel of big fresh chips scattered about on the ground below; tree 10 or more inches in diameter at cavity.”

Mr. Stockard (1904) says, of the 17 pairs that he watched in Mississippi, that the birds do not lay a second set after the nest has been robbed, but they remain in the same woods during the remainder of the season. He says of the nests:

The burrow is very large and requires in most cases about one month for construction, being commenced in this locality about the latter part of February. But it was very difficult to note the exact length of time consumed in burrowing, as the birds try so many parts of the same tree before striking one to suit their taste. The nest tree and other dead trees close at hand were often scarred from top to bottom. In two cases they began a nest, then seemed to start one in another place, and then returned to the former and completed it. * * *

The first nest, a burrow twenty-five feet from the ground in an old sycamore stump, contained one egg on March 22; March 26 it contained three, and on April 1, when the set was removed, it consisted of four slightly incubated eggs. * * *

Only one pair was observed that had their nest in a dead tree which stood in an open field at least sixty or seventy yards from the wood. The female in this case flew about the nest tree and lit once on the upper part and again just over the nest hole while a person was in the act of climbing the tree. This was by far the most daring bird seen and, as mentioned above, because of the isolation of the tree, her burrow was unusually exposed for this species.

Eggs.—The pileated woodpecker lays ordinarily from three to five eggs; Audubon (1842) claims to have found six. The eggs vary from ovate, the commonest shape, to elliptical-ovate; some are even quite pointed. They are a brilliant china-white and usually decidedly glossy. The measurements of 52 eggs average 32.90 by 24.72 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 35.70 by 27.00, 30.22 by 22.35, and 29.30 by 22.00 millimeters.

Young.—Bendire (1895) says that “an egg is deposited daily, and incubation begins occasionally before the set is completed, and lasts about eighteen days, both sexes assisting in this duty, as well as in caring for the young. Like all Woodpeckers, the Pileated are very devoted parents, and the young follow them for some weeks after leaving the nest, until fully capable of caring for themselves. Only one brood is raised in a season.”

Plumages.—I have seen no small nestlings of this species, but they are probably hatched naked and blind, like all other woodpeckers; the juvenal plumage is evidently acquired before the young bird leaves the nest.

The young male, in juvenal plumage, is much like the adult male in general appearance, but the body plumage is softer, less firm, and rather lighter and more sooty in color; the tips of the primaries have dull-white narrow margins, which soon wear away; the red of the head is duller, paler, and more restricted; on the fore half of the crown and the malar region, the feathers are basally grayish brown, the red showing only on the tips of most of the feathers, producing a mixed color effect. The young female is similar to the young male but with even less red in the head; the forehead and most of the crown are grayish brown, which invades the red posterior portion of the crown; and there is no red in the malar region. Audubon (1842) says that the bill of the young bird is considerably longer than that of the adult.

The juvenal plumage is apparently worn for only a short time, during the summer and early fall; I have not been able to detect it beyond August; this is followed by a prolonged molt into a first winter plumage, which is scarcely distinguishable from that of the adult. Adults have a complete molt between June and September.

Food.—The food of the southern pileated woodpecker is not essentially different from that of the other races of the species, with due allowance for the difference in environment. Prof. F. E. L. Beal (1895) says: “Six stomachs, collected by Dr. B. H. Warren on the St. Johns River in Florida, contained numerous palmetto ants (Camponotus escuriens), and remains of other ants, several larvae of a Prionid beetle (Orthosoma brunnea), numerous builder ants (Crematogaster lineolata), one larva of Xylotrechus, and one pupa of the white ant (Termes).”

George Finlay Simmons (1925) says that in Texas it “feeds on ants, particularly about decayed stumps; the eggs, larvae, and adults of wood-boring insects, particularly beetles; and on berries, acorns, nuts, and wild grapes. When digging for insects beneath the bark or in the wood of dead limbs or trunks of trees, it pounds steadily away, head swinging back in an impossible arc and driving straight down with the force of a blacksmith’s sledge, chips flying every stroke or two; by employing a wrenching stroke with its chisel-bill, it knocks three-inch, four-inch, or even six-inch chips from the tree and causes them to fly for some distance.”

Arthur H. Howell (1924) says that in Alabama its food “consists mainly of ants, beetles, and wild fruits and berries, including sour gum, tupelo gum, dogwood, persimmon, frost grape, holly, poison ivy, sumac, and hackberry.”

Behavior.—The pileated woodpecker is ordinarily a wild, shy bird of the wilderness forests, though in some places it is said to be quite unsuspicious, where perhaps it has not yet learned to fear man, or where familiarity has taught it to trust him. Its flight is rather slow, but vigorous and usually direct, after the manner of a crow; at times, however, in short swings, it adopts the bounding flight, so common to many woodpeckers. It is an adept at keeping out of sight behind a tree trunk and will lead a hunter a long chase by flying from tree to tree well in advance of him. When shot dead, it may cling for some time to the branch or trunk, until its muscles relax and allow it to fall. If wounded, it keeps up a constant chatter while falling and will not become quiet while life remains; a wounded bird should be handled carefully, for it can inflict a painful wound with its powerful beak.

Audubon (1842) relates the following story, as told to him by the Rev. John Bachman: “A pair of pileated woodpeckers had a nest in an old elm tree, in a swamp, which they occupied that year; the next spring early, two blue-birds took possession of it, and there had young. Before these were half grown, the woodpeckers returned to the place, and, despite of the cries and reiterated attacks of the blue-birds, the others took the young, not very gently, as you may imagine, and carried them away to some distance. Next the nest itself was disposed of, the hole cleaned and enlarged, and there they raised a brood. The nest, it is true, was originally their own.”

Robert P. Allen has sent me the following note: “When in one of the Carolina river swamps with Herbert L. Stoddard, early in December 1936, we were interested in the actions of pileated woodpeckers that we called to us by tapping on the side of our cypress dug-out in imitation of the birds. We paddled our canoe close against the buttress of a large cypress tree, so that we were partially concealed by the trunk itself and by a dense growth of intertwining branches overhead. As many as four pileateds at one time responded to our efforts, and all these appeared to be males. As they swooped low, to get a look at this stranger in their midst, each bird made what we took to be an intimidating noise with its wings.

“From the immediate and pugnacious interest that these male (?) pileateds showed in our presence, it would seem as if they had previously cataloged the pileated population of that area and had, therefore, rushed over to investigate the presence of a bird that could not be accounted for, except as a stranger and a trespasser. Their efforts at intimidation were evidently designed to drive us out of the region.”

Voice.—The most familiar note of the pileated woodpecker is the loud, ringing call, suggesting the “yucker” call of the flicker, but louder and stronger, less rapid, more prolonged, and on a lower key.

Mr. Simmons (1925) has summed up the notes of this woodpecker very well, as follows: “A loud cac, cac, cac as it flies. A sonorous cow-cow-cow, repeated many times; a clear wichew, when two birds are together. A loud cackle, like loud, ringing, derisive laughter, chuck-chuck; chuck, chuck-ah, chuck, chuck-ah, chuck, chuck, chuck, chuck; or chuck, chuck, chuck, chuck, chuck, chuck, chuck.”

Field marks.—The pileated woodpecker has the appearance of a large, black bird, nearly as large as a crow and somewhat like it in flight, but the large, white patches in the wings are distinctive, as well as the flaming red crest. As it bounds through the woods in long swinging flights from tree to tree, it is unmistakable. While hammering on a tree trunk, its long neck and heavy head and beak are conspicuous and distinctive.

Winter.—Throughout most of its range the southern pileated woodpecker is a permanent resident; in fact, there is very little southward movement for the species, even in the more northern portions of its range, except for winter wanderings in search of a suitable food supply.

Vernon Sharpe, Jr. (1932), writing from Tennessee, says: “The winter roosting place of this bird is rather interesting. A live hollow tree is selected, and there two or more holes are dug, presumably with the thought of using one for escape should any attack by some night marauder take place. These roosting places are used year after year; in fact, there is one site in the Overton Hills, south of Nashville, that has been used for so many seasons it has become essential for the woodpecker to cut away a portion of the tree that is trying to heal over the cavity.”

DISTRIBUTION

Range.—North America; chiefly timbered regions east of the Great Plains and from southern Mackenzie to western Montana and California.

The range of the pileated woodpecker extends north to northern British Columbia (Buckley Lake and Thutade Lake); southern Mackenzie (Fort Liard and Fort Smith); northern Saskatchewan (Poplar Point); northeastern Ontario (Moose Factory); and southeastern Quebec (Godbout and Mont Louis Lake). East through the wooded areas along the Atlantic coast to southeastern Florida (Everglades, Royal Palm Hammock, and Key West). South along the Gulf coasts of Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana, to southeastern Texas (San Point). The species is not known through the southern Rocky Mountain and Great Basin regions, appearing next in central California (Yosemite Valley and Napa County). From the latter point it occurs north along the Pacific coast through Oregon and Washington, to northwestern British Columbia (Hazelton and Buckley Lake).

The range above outlined is for the entire species, which has, however, been separated into four subspecies. The southern pileated woodpecker (C. p. pileatus) is found in the Eastern United States from central Texas and northern Florida north to Oklahoma, southern Illinois, southern Indiana, southern Pennsylvania, and Maryland; the northern pileated woodpecker (C. p. abieticola), occupies the balance of the range in Eastern North America, except for the peninsula of Florida to which the Florida pileated woodpecker (C. p. floridanus) is restricted. The western pileated woodpecker (C. p. picinus) is found chiefly in the humid areas of the Northwest coast district but also south to central California and east to western Montana and Idaho.

Casual records.—Two specimens have been taken in North Dakota, one at Grafton on May 30, 1905, and the other at Fargo on October 16, 1915. It may occur rarely in Wyoming, although no specimen is at present known. The Colorado and New Mexico records are not considered satisfactory.