Woodpecker Hole Identification, Pileated Woodpecker

Woodpecker holes in a pine tree in our yard.
Photo by Brad Sylvester, all rights reserved.

In the forest, there are many animals that are reclusive and tend to hide away from human contact. By learning their habits and patterns or just by being lucky, we might be able to see them from time to time. Some, however, might remain forever hidden if they did not leave behind evidence of their presence after that have hidden themselves away from our sight. Many woodpeckers, for example leave holes in trees that tell us that they have visited even if we never see or hear them directly.

In our yard, as I mentioned in a previous post, we have a nest of Hairy Woodpeckers. They live inside a big birch tree in a cavity that they chipped out with their chisel-like beaks. The opening is a small round hole. This type of hole, round and just a two or three inches wide at most is typical of Hairy Woodpeckers and Downy Woodpeckers as well as several other types native to the area. it is definitely not typical of a sapsucker or the larger Pileated Woodpecker.

Sapsuckers, when they feed, tend to make linear or grid-like patterns of very small holes around the trunk of a tree.  These holes might be a half inch or less in diameter. Far too small for nesting. The handiwork of Pileated woodpeckers, on the other hand, can be identified by the size and shape of the distinctively rectangular holes they carve out in the tree trunks.

Rectangular or oblong holes indicate the work of a Pileated
Woodpecker.
Photo by Brad Sylvester, all rights reserved.

The hole of the pileated woodpecker starts out as a small round hole not too different than that of other woodpeckers, but may tend to have more raw wood with the bark removed around the outside of the hole. The pileated woodpecker, however, keeps working the holes over time in a vertical direction so that they soon develop into larger narrow slots in the tree truck. There will often be several such holes in a single trunk.

In the photo to the left, you can see both expanded edges around the round holes and markedly rectangular holes in this pine tree. These are strong evidence that this is the work of a Pileated Woodpecker.

I have to admit that I have rarely seen pileated woodpeckers in the area of our yard. Very occasionally, I will see one flying through, but only once or twice a year. I thought they lived farther away in the forest. The number of holes in this tree, however, suggests that they are visiting my yard fairly frequently despite the rarity of sightings. I haven't heard their calls in the yard and haven't distinguished their drumming pattern from that of the more common hairy and downy woodpeckers, although I admit, I have not thus far made a determined effort to do so.

The Pileated Woodpecker is, by a good margin, the largest woodpecker in New Hampshire and has a very striking crest and coloring. Knowing it is present with some regularity means that I will definitely prioritize getting some good photos for this blog. For now, I'll hold off on adding it to the master list of animals that live in my yard even though there is very strong evidence.