A Sapsucker sometimes actually becomes intoxicated with the juice it has drunk and wanders through the woods bumping into trees and branches, grasping the bark as best it can with toes which are marvelously adapted to holding to rough surfaces, even while the bird sleeps.
PILEATED WOODPECKER
Phlœotomus pileatus abieticola (Bangs)
Other Names.—Red-headed Woodpecker (erroneous); Cock o’ the Woods; Log-cock; Woodcock (erroneous); Indian Hen; Black Woodpecker.
Description.—Size large, about that of a Crow; both sexes with prominent triangular crests. Adult male: High crest and line from lower mandible to middle of head, bright glossy red; narrow line back of eye and prominent line from bill under eye to neck and down to edge of breast, white; throat whitish; patch at base of folded primaries and irregular barring, on sides and flanks, white; the under-wing lining and most of the inner web of primaries white, showing plainly in flight. Rest of plumage brownish black; eyes bright orange-yellow. Female: Similar, but front of head brownish, only the rear part of the crest red. Immature birds are similar to the female. Length: 17 inches.
Range in Pennsylvania.—A rare permanent resident, found chiefly in the northern mountainous counties, but a few still persist in the southwestern counties and locally elsewhere. It is becoming somewhat commoner as a result of rigid protection.
Nest.—A large cavity in a tree, drilled by the birds, usually in a dead stub, though sometimes in a living yellow birch, at from 20 to 60 feet from the ground. Eggs: 3 to 5, glossy white.
Pileated Woodpecker
The magnificent Log-cock is all too rare in Pennsylvania, but wherever the striking creature swings noisily across a valley or pounds with its great bill into soft wood, the bird student receives a thrill few of our birds can afford. Its flight is rather slow and laborious, and noticeably less undulating than in other woodpeckers.
It is given to searching for food in deep, shadowy woods, where it is sometimes the only bird to be found, and where the sound of its hammering gives the only hint of life in the vast stillness.
The call of the Pileated is a high, irregular cackle, something like the spring song of the Flicker, but more noisy and irregular. An imitation of this cry, a clapping of the hands, or the beating of a dead stub with a stick, will sometimes bring the curious, bright-eyed creatures very close—too close, if the gunner be of the law-breaking kind. The fact that this bird is sometimes called Woodcock, and therefore regarded as a game-bird, has led to the destruction of many of them. They are naturally creatures of the wilderness, and have never been really common. Careful protection will be necessary if we are to keep them from extinction in this Commonwealth.
The food of the Pileated Woodpecker is chiefly grubs, bored sometimes from the very center of great trees. Its long, barb-tipped tongue aids it in securing its food.
In looking for the bird, seek the wild, wooded mountains. Listen for the cackling cry; watch for a big, black bird with flashing wing-linings; and attempt an imitation of its hammering by beating two sticks together.