Dryocopus pileatus
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The pileated woodpecker ( PY-lee-ay-tid, PIL-ee-; Dryocopus pileatus) is a large, crow-sized woodpecker with a prominent red crest, white neck stripe, and a mostly black body. This woodpecker is native to North America, where it is the largest confirmed extant woodpecker species and the third-largest extant species of woodpecker in the world, after the great slaty woodpecker and the black woodpecker. It inhabits deciduous forests in eastern North America, the Great Lakes, the boreal forests of Canada, and parts of the Pacific Coast. This woodpecker is primarily an insectivore, eating insects that live in trees; it is famous for making large, nearly rectangular carvings into trees, which are used to extract prey inside the tree or to make a nest. The species has a large range and an increasing population, causing it to be categorized as a species of "least concern" by the IUCN.
English naturalist Mark Catesby described and illustrated the pileated woodpecker in his book The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, which was published between 1729 and 1732. Catesby used the English name "The larger red-crested Wood-pecker" and the Latin Picus niger... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Edmonton | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 2 | Orlando | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Washington | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Montreal | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 5 | Minneapolis [Saint Paul] | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Seattle | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Vancouver | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 8 | Houston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Calgary | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 10 | Miami | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | National Zoological Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Pileated Woodpecker sighting in Houston on a given day, based on 1,824 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 67th most-seen of the 302 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August–October and December–May
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Pileated Woodpecker in Houston on a given day, against under 5% in June–July and November, the lowest months.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Pileated Woodpecker sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
8th of 20
Of the 20 cities where we can rate Pileated Woodpecker sightings, Houston ranks 8th at about 10%. The best odds are in Edmonton (Canada, about 30%), Orlando (United States, about 30%) and Washington (United States, about 20%).
Same family: Picidae
The closest relatives of the Pileated Woodpecker that you can see in Houston (family Picidae, Woodpeckers) are Downy Woodpecker (about 60%), Red-bellied Woodpecker (about 50%) and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Pileated Woodpecker is recorded against all the birds logged in Houston (1,824 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
