Pileated Woodpeckers

Riding my bike early in the morning past a pine barren along Magnolia Drive, I caught a flash of red and heard a raucous cry in the woods.  I spotted not one, not two, but three pileated woodpeckers!  It's a real treat to see one. The pileated woodpecker is the largest woodpecker in North America. I occasionally see one deeper in the woods in Verandah but these three were right along the margin of the woods. They are very distinctive by their large size, zebra striped face, and flaming red crest.

The three I saw were slightly smaller than others I had seen, so I think they are juveniles, and probably siblings as they stayed together and called to each other. Juveniles' red crests are still a bit downy and sharpen into a distinctive triangular crest as adults. These three woodpeckers were males as evidenced by the red cheek stripe which the females do not have.

Pileated woodpeckers typically live in mature forests and seem to like the pine barrens here in SW Florida.  They feed on insects such as carpenter ants and larvae that live in the tree bark. Unlike other woodpeckers, they can be found on the ground, pecking on dead, decaying fallen trees. 

Throughout the preserve around Verandah, you can see old dead trees in the woods that have huge holes pecked in them. The really big holes have likely been left by the pileated woodpeckers which they peck not only to search for insects but to also make their nests.