Pileated woodpecker

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

— A pileated woodpecker, about 15 inches in length and one of the largest woodpeckers found in North America, was seen in the woods in Pea Ridge recently. (Only the possibly extinct Ivory-billed Woodpecker in the southeastern United States and Cuba and the Imperial Woodpecker of western Mexico are larger.)

It has a black body, a red crest, white stripes on its neck and black and white stripes on its face. It has yellow bristly feathers over its nostrils that keep out wood chips. It has a long, sticky tongue; a long, sharp pointed bill and yellow eyes.

Males and females are similar, but males have a red forehead, and females have a gray to yellowish brown forehead. They are non-migratory. Times photograph by Annette Beard

News, Pages 1 on 01/19/2011