Pileated Woodpecker

Description:

Adult, male Pileated Woodpecker on a tall tree next to a frozen lake. You can easily remember how to tell the male and female apart as the males have a red mustache and Mohawk while the females sport the red Mohawk and have no mustache.

Habitat:

Tallest tree in the yard, next to a frozen lake and within five miles of wetlands, farmlands and woodlands.

Notes:

We have both male and female Pileated Woodpeckers coming to our yard on a daily, hourly basis. Primarily they spend time at the beef suet at this time of year but they also have been seen eating: unsalted, roasted peanuts, oranges, and gleaning bugs from two of our 7-8' tall dead tree stumps. I believe they nest somewhere in our back lot where there's a combination woodlands and marsh area which is adjacent to farm land with horses and beef cattle. Every year they bring their young to our dead trees, dead tree stumps and platform feeding areas. The young are much more naive/trusting and so more vulnerable to being attacked by loose cats and dogs as well as hitting buildings. In the past we've had an adult male that favored peanuts and a juvenile male that favored oranges, going to them more than the suet, sunflower seeds or bugs. The typically eat on hanging or platform feeders or feeder trees but have been seen and photographed on the ground as well.