Pileated Woodpeckers (Dryocopus pileatus) are so large and loud that it is hard to miss them when they are around. I often hear them from a distance, pecking away at a tree with a volume that seems to match that of a jackhammer, or I catch a glimpse of their bright red heads, but generally they are high in the trees, partially hidden from view behind a tangle of branches.
I spotted a Pileated Woodpecker in flight last Friday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge and was able to follow it to the tree where it landed. Moving as slowly and stealthily as I could, I tried to find a visual tunnel that would provide an unobstructed view of the the woodpecker. I was mostly successful in doing so and was able a couple of images of the woodpecker at work. I never realized how to determine the gender of these birds, but one of my friends pointed out to me that the red whisker stripes on this bird’s face indicates that this is a male.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
I’ve never seen a pileated woodpecker, but thanks to you, if I ever do, I’ll have a better chance of figuring out whether it’s a male or female.
Hopefully if you see one you will be able to get close enough to see the facial details. 🙂
Beautiful bird!
Thanks. They are the largest woodpecker in our area and are impressive to see–and beautiful too!
I’ve seen only three woodpeckers in my life – the one that comes to visit my garden all the time is the Great-spotted woodpecker. And then I’ve caught a glimpse of the European green woodpecker and the Black woodpecker, but have never been able to catch them on camera.
The woodpeckers in Europe are a bit different from the ones that I see here in Virginia in the United States. During a trip to Vienna, Austria in 2016 I was thrilled to get some shots of a Black Woodpecker and featured them in a blog posting. https://michaelqpowell.wordpress.com/2016/04/26/black-woodpecker-in-vienna/