It’s a magnificent bird – one of the largest woodpeckers in North America. Its plumage is striking, with stripes of black and white feathers and a bright red crest. It can be shy. Its large bill often glints in the sun. And though you might think it’s the newly rediscovered ivory-billed woodpecker, it’s not.
Long thought to be extinct, the ivory-billed woodpecker was potentially rediscovered over a year ago in Arkansas. News of the find came out this spring.
Suddenly, ivory-billed woodpeckers were being reported everywhere. But the reports were mistaken, at least here in New Hampshire and Vermont. It’s the pileated woodpecker that is native to our woods, not the ivory-billed, and the pileated is doing just fine, thank you.
The two woodpeckers look enough alike, though, that even scientists have been known to be fooled, if only for a moment.
Our native, the pileated, is one big woodpecker. It is about 16 inches tall, with a 2-foot wingspan. It’s sometimes described as crow-sized, but peregrine falcons are sometimes described as crow-sized, too, and the pileated is significantly larger than the peregrine. In North America, the only two woodpeckers larger than the pileated are the possibly extinct imperial woodpecker of Mexico and the ivory-billed woodpecker. The ivory-billed is about 4 inches larger than the pileated.
When perched, the pileated’s back appears all black (with perhaps a small patch of white), but when it takes flight, white bands on its wings are revealed.
The pileated’s head is colorful. There is a white stripe that extends from its beak down its neck. Both male and female have red crests (although the male’s forehead is red, while the female’s is black). Males also have a red “mustache”; females, a black one.
Seeing signs of a pileated woodpecker is much easier than seeing the bird itself. When you see wood chips on the forest floor, look up. Chances are excellent you’ll see the deep, rectangular feeding hole made by the pileated while searching for ants. These holes can be several feet tall – far larger than those made by our other native woodpeckers. Occasionally the other woodpecker species are attracted to the big holes and may feed there, too.
Nest holes are harder to find. They are large, round, and at least 15 feet off the ground. The pileateds will build his and her nest holes, but they use only his for the eggs.
Neither Steve Parren (of Vermont’s Nongame and Natural Heritage Program), John Kanter (of New Hampshire’s Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program) nor the conservation biologists at the Vermont Institute of Natural Science can recall anyone reporting an ivory-billed woodpecker to them since the news broke.
But that doesn’t mean we’re immune to ivory-billed fever. Anne Hobbs, who handles the ivory-billed hotline for the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, says that she gets the occasional report of an ivory-billed from northern New England. “Because New England is so obviously out of the range for ivory-billeds, I do tend to get far fewer sightings from that region than I do, say, from Florida.”
People who call or email the hotline with sightings clearly outside the ivory-billed’s range are directed to the Lab’s website, where they are directed step by step through the ivory-billed’s range (the southeastern U.S.), its habitat (usually called mature bottomland forest, but think swampy with huge trees), and distinctive field marks (especially the white bill).
The website urges us not to rely on the white bill to tell an ivory-billed from a pileated. The pileated’s bill is dark, but glossy, it says. When the sunlight reflects off it, it can appear white.
“I also tell them that seeing a pileated is quite a thrill,” says Hobbs.
The pileated woodpecker is fairly common. It’s found across much of the country – including in our area – and is found mostly in forests but sometimes in suburban backyards, too. They can be quite shy. I remember walking around a big tree in a picnic area after hearing drumming and seeing woodchips and a rectangular hole. I never saw the pileated, but it would resume drumming the minute I turned away. I suspect it was walking around the trunk, keeping the tree between us.
But pileateds aren’t always shy. I’ve seen them on roadsides, even once in a suburban front yard in White River Junction, Vermont, amidst the tangle of I-91, Route 14, and Route 5. They can be attracted to suet feeders.
In fact, a number of these reported, out-of-range, so-called ivory-billed woodpeckers turn out to be just that: pileated woodpeckers at backyard feeders. Vermont and New Hampshire are not places you’ll find the rare, elusive, and habitat-picky ivory-billed woodpecker, but it’s no reason to be disappointed. Just because it isn’t endangered doesn’t mean it’s not magnificent.