Date: 11/21/24 7:43 am From: F D <00000d710cb3d888-dmarc-request...> Subject: Re: [VTBIRD] Pileated Woodpecker Diet
What a wonderful image to start my morning with! A happy, drunken, and cozy woodpecker nestled in a tree.
I had a large overgrowth of wild grapes in a backyard a few years back and a pileated woodpecker who loved to stop by but I never stopped to noticed what they were eating. Now I'm curious
On Thursday, November 21st, 2024 at 10:26 AM, Barbara Brosnan <bbrosnan...> wrote:
>
>
> We used to have a dead elm tree in our hedge row that was covered with wild grapevines. In late summer and early fall we could count on a Pileated Woodpecker burying him/herself in the leaves and then gorging on the over ripe and quite fermented grapes. All the while, the bird being fully hidden, the leaf-covered tree emitted loud screeches of wild drunken joy!
>
> Happy harvest everyone!
>
> Barbara Brosnan
> Weybridge
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vermont Birds <VTBIRD...> On Behalf Of Ken Copenhaver
>
> Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2024 11:07 PM
> To: <VTBIRD...>
> Subject: Re: [VTBIRD] Pileated Woodpecker Diet
>
> About 15 years ago I was in a campground in Wells, Maine where there were cherry trees. A Pileated Woodpecker scarfed down the cherries one by one, right above our campsite. The cherries seemed to just roll down his throat!
> Very entertaining.
>
> Ken Copenhaver, Fairfax
>
> On Wed, Nov 20, 2024 at 3:28 PM Maeve Kim <maevekim7...> wrote:
>
> > We watched a pileated yesterday, also foraging among dry leaves. We
> > weren’t really close to it, but through the binoculars, it appeared to
> > be picking individual wild grapes from the vine that was draped around
> > the tree. I had no idea they ate fruit, but Cornell says:
> > The Pileated Woodpecker’s primary food is carpenter ants, supplemented
> > by other ants, woodboring beetle larvae, termites, and other insects
> > such as flies, spruce budworm, caterpillars, cockroaches, and
> > grasshoppers. They also eat wild fruits and nuts, including
> > greenbrier, hackberry, sassafrass, blackberries, sumac berries, poison
> > ivy, holly, dogwood, persimmon, and elderberry.
> >
> > Maeve Kim, Jericho Center
> >
> > > On Nov 20, 2024, at 3:14 PM, Sue Gilbert <suewgilbert...> wrote:
> > >
> > > This morning I spent several minutes watching a pileated woodpecker
> > > in
> > > my birch tree, not pecking on the trunk or bark, but rather foraging
> > > amongst all the dry seeds hanging off the branches. The seeds that I
> > > could reach, I inspected for insects, thinking that's what the
> > > woodpecker was eating. But there were none. Does anyone know if
> > > Pileated Woodpeckers actually eat the birch seeds?
