Pileated Woodpecker. Photo: Don Enright

Pileated Woodpecker

Scientific Name: Dryocopus pileatus

Status (B.C.): No concern

The Pileated Woodpecker is one of the biggest, most striking forest birds. Rivaling a crow in size it is distinguished by it’s black body with bold white stripes down the neck and a flaming-red crest. These birds require mature forests with large dead trees. Pileated Woodpeckers manufacture their homes by whacking at dead trees leaving unique rectangular holes in the wood. They also create these holes while in search of their main prey, carpenter ants, These nest holes act as crucial shelter to many species including owls, ducks, bats, and pine martens.

Stimulated by the Island’s Trust Sensitive Ecosystems Mapping Project of 2005, the Conservancy initiated, within the Community Stewardship Project, a program of combining habitat and species information with the Sensitive Ecosystems data to develop home range maps of endemic species of local concern. These maps will enable better awareness of critical habitat requirements and species distribution on Mayne as well as enable us to better plan management strategies to maintain both the species and ecosystems that contribute so much richness to the island.

Pileated Woodpecker Habitat