Only one of the seven species of Dryocopus Boie (Isis 19: 997. 1826) occurs in North America north of Mexico. Aside from the widespread lineated woodpecker (D. lineatus) of Mexico and South America, the remainder are found only in South America or in the Old World with the Eurasian black woodpecker (D. martius) the type of the genus. An image of the pileated woodpecker was first published by Mark Catesby (Nat. Hist. Carolina 1: t. 17. 1730 - see below) who produced a watercolor of the species while residing in Charleston, South Carolina from 1722 until 1725. Linnaeus (Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1: 113. 1758) named the bird Picus pileatus. As was the tradition of his day, Catesby assigned the phrase name, or polynomial, Picus niger maximus rostro rubro to the species. The term "pileatus" is taken from the Latin "pileatus" meaning "capped" alluding to the bright red feathery head. The generic name is from the Greek "dryos" meaning tree or oak and "koptos", meaning cut or chopped and applied fancifully as most of these large woodpeckers are capable of felling a significant portion of a tree.
The pileated woodpecker is subdivided into two subspecies. The widespread subsp. pileatus is the common expression found in the eastern United States while the northern pileated woodpecker, subsp. abieticola (Bangs, Auk 15: 76. 1898), is confined to the northernmost United States and adjacent Canada (fide L.L. Short, Delaware Mus. Nat. Hist. Monogr. No. 4. 1982) although four subspecies were recognized prior to Short’s revision. While most present-day bird books do not recognize the subspecies, the bird found in New York, and shown here, belong to subsp. abieticola which is characterized as a larger bird than typical subsp. pileatus of the southeastern United States. The word "abieticola" means "inhabiting or living in fir" because this bird favors members of the genus Abies, the fir tree, for nesting sites.
The pileated woodpecker is the largest woodpecker in the northeastern United States and is easily recognized by its distinct red head crest. Their call is varied but distinctive once learned. Short (1982) described three basic calls: waa, wok, and wuk. The first is a soft call usually voiced between pairs. Wok is given in a series of notes of varying pitches; it seemingly is associated with breeding. The wuk call is a single note, loud, and often given in a series. This can also been described as a high pitched series of kuk-kuk, kuk-kuk (F.M. Chapman, Handbook of birds of eastern North America. 1939). Silbey, in his Guide to Birds published in 2000 (p. 319), gives the territorial call as "kuk kuk keekeekeekeekeekeekeekuk kuk." Drumming consists of 10-30 high-speed bursts lasting up to three seconds; it often sounds like a short brrrrr. The drumming is distinctly louder and more resonant than that of other regional woodpeckers.
For more information on the pileated woodpecker see Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s site on pileated woodpecker where one can find a map of the species’ distribution, its voice, and other facts.
Our photos were taken in Lansing, Tompkins Co., New York, in February 2009.
