The Pileated Woodpecker Dryocopus pileatus is the largest woodpecker found widely in North America. They are always fun to see and yesterday I happened across this big guy when I heard the loud slow tapping on this live oak tree almost straight overhead. I had not realized how much the red crest flops arouund as the bird pounds on the tree.
These birds are unmistakable in most of its range, as it is much larger than any other woodpeckers in its range, and the bold white wing patches and the crested appearance with the bold red crest are distinctive.
This appears to be a female, as a male would have a small patch of red on the chin just behind and under the base of the bill.
In centuries past the Ivory-billed Woodpecker Campephilus principalis, now believed extinct, was larger and the still extant Imperial Woodpecker C. imperialis of Western Mexico is larger.
Good birding.
