The Pileated Woodpecker is the largest woodpecker in North America, crow-sized with a flaming red crest and unmistakable loud, laughing call. It excavates large, rectangular cavities in dead trees to reach carpenter ant colonies, leaving distinctive oblong holes that become critical habitat for many other wildlife species. The cavities it creates are used by wood ducks, owls, and pine martens.
Habitat
Mature forests with large dead trees
Diet
Carpenter ants, wood-boring beetle larvae, and berries
How common
Uncommon
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