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Wildlife
- Birds - |
Pileated Woodpecker
(Dryocopus pileatus) Y |
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RANGE: Resident from southern and eastern British Columbia,
southwestern Mackenzie, central Manitoba, New Brunswick, and
Nova Scotia south through Alberta, Washington, south-central
Idaho, western Montana, and to northern California, west
to eastern Dakotas, Missouri, and Oklahoma and south to
east-central Texas, the Gulf Coast, and southern Florida.
STATUS: Locally common but has become less common in areas where
extensive agricultural or logging practices have eliminated
large tracts of old-growth forests.
HABITAT: Generally limited to mature coniferous, deciduous, and
mixed forests with large, dead trees. Prefers woodlands near
water.
SPECIAL HABITAT REQUIREMENTS: Large dead trees for nesting and
feeding. Strongest nesting habitat association in (1)
Forests containing hemlock and Douglas-fir, (2) Mixed
coniferous-deciduous forest, (3) Siskiyou Mountains mixed
deciduous forest, and (4) Western riverine woodland.
NEST: Usually excavates nest holes in dead tree trunks or dead
limbs of living trees. Generally requires trees greater than 15
inches dbh for nest and roost cavities and generally uses
ponderosa pine snags greater than 20 inches dbh. Nests in a
variety of tree species, including beech, cottonwood,
yellow-poplar, birch, oak, hickory, maple, hemlock, pine, ash,
elm, basswood, and aspen.
FOOD: Consumes a diet that is about 70 percent insects, with
ants, especially carpenter ants and wood-boring beetles,
predominating. Also consumes other insects, some wild fruits,
mast, and seeds of sumac.
REFERENCES: Adamus et al. 2001, Beal 1911, Bull and Meslow 1977,
Conner et al. 1975, DeGraff et al. 1980, Forbush and May 1955,
Hoyt 1957, Johnsgard 1979, Miller 1999, Shunk 2004. |
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