Teresa,
Just a quick story about my experience with nesting Pileated
Woodpeckers. This took place on May 15, 1990. I was out birding on our
tree farm when I heard this awful racket so I followed the sound to its
source -- two very vocal Pileated babies at their nest hole being fed by
an adult. We had seen the adults around and suspected a nest someplace on
our plateau but never dreamed it was on our property 30 feet up in an old
alder snag. The young'uns look like the adults but their red crests are
paler. You can tell which one is a male too, as the pale red moustache
will be evident. We had them nest in another alder snag in 1994 but were
away when they fledged. We do not believe they have nested on our
property since then, but this year they must have nested close by as I saw
a young one with a parent just last week rapping away on a cedar snag.
They have chosen alder snags for their nest on our property and the snag
usually gets blown down in a wind storm the very next year.

Hope you get a chance to see and hear the young Pileated Woodpeckers at
their nest hole.

Erin

Bill and Erin Woods Woods Tree Farm Redmond,
WA U.S.A. <wwwbike at halcyon.com>