Sign Of A Pileated Woodpecker

November 21, 2025

This morning on my way down the mountain I saw a woodpecker that I often see, a Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus). The largest woodpecker in North America. About the size of a crow. Measuring in at 16 to 19 inches long, with a wingspan of 26 to 30 inches, weighing about 8.8 to 12.3 ounces.

Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) drill holes in trees searching for Carpenter Ants (Camponotus) and wood-boring beetle larvae. Trees they prefer have soft wood, or are dead or dying. Those holes, often large, rectangular or oval, are easy to spot.

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Published by

Brenda Clements Jones

Brenda is a certified Virginia Master Naturalist, a Habitat Defender for Shenandoah National Park, and a devoted fan of Mother Nature. She lives in a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Shenandoah National Park, and hikes up to the higher elevations of her mountain often to see what nature is up to. Her constant hiking companion is a camera that captures nature as it unfolds through the seasons. It’s her goal to share the natural world around her through her photographs.