Pileated Woodpecker

Dryocopus pileatus

Nearly crow-sized with a flaming red crest, bold black-and-white plumage, and a powerful chisel-like bill, the Pileated Woodpecker is the largest woodpecker in most of North America. It excavates distinctive rectangular holes in dead trees to reach carpenter ants, its primary food. Its loud drumming and wild laughing call echo through mature forests across the eastern half of the continent.