Woodpeckers

Pileated Woodpecker

Helmspecht

Dryocopus pileatus

Woodpeckers4 photosFirst seen: 13 August 2026

The Pileated Woodpecker is a crow-sized black woodpecker with a red crest and bold white stripes along the face and neck. It searches dead trees and fallen logs for carpenter ants and other insects, often leaving deep rectangular excavations. Large trees are also needed for its nest and roost cavities. Cavities abandoned by the woodpeckers are later used by many other birds and mammals. Males have a red cheek stripe, while females have a black stripe in the same area.

ID tip: The combination of very large size, a swept red crest and white facial stripes is distinctive. In flight, broad white areas show on the underwings; males also have a red cheek stripe.

First seen: 13 August 2026 · San Juan Islands · 4 photos in the collection.

Places in my records

Locations where this species is supported by a dated first record, an unambiguous single-place outing or a reviewed assignment.

San Juan Islands13 August 2026

Family: Woodpeckers (Picidae)
Length: 40–49 cm
Wingspan: 66–75 cm
Regional status: Year-round resident (Pacific Northwest, USA)
Conservation: Least Concern LCIUCN Red List · retrieved 27 August 2026
Habitat: Mature conifer, deciduous and mixed forests with large dead trees and fallen wood
Diet: Carpenter ants, beetle larvae and other insects; also fruit and nuts

Built from verified occurrence records, not drawn by hand. Core range = the countries holding 99% of all records; the rest are scattered or vagrant records. Record counts track where people watch birds as much as where the birds are, so the map shows presence, not abundance. Data: GBIF (CC BY 4.0). Basemap: Natural Earth.

Pileated Woodpecker

Places in my records

Selected photographs