Birds From a Cariboo Deck No.7: Pileated Woodpecker

This is the big one around here - and reputedly the inspiration for Woody Woodpecker: not just in its looks: the calls we hear when they make their way, sometimes as many as four at a time, through the woods towards our chief attraction - suet - are pretty close to that irritating call of the cartoon version.

I say this is "the big one" but that status is among the woodpeckers. One of my most impressive backyard sites was a Sharp-Shinned Hawk chasing a Pileated Woodpecker through the fir trees: like a scene from Star Wars.

For an interesting perspective on the part this woodpecker plays in the forest ecology, read Woodpeckers, Fir Snags and Hummingbirds by Dave Neads. I chose the Pileated Woodpecker as No.7 to coincide with his publishing of this post.

For more on Cariboo birds, see my Birds from a Cariboo Deck