Whatbird.com

Hi!! What a wonderful site you have here!! I wish I would have found it sooner, but for sure will be back often!! I had the opportunity to spend some time in the woods yesterday, and I seen a bird I have never seen before. I thought I was seeing a crested flycatcher, but according to this site, I am wrong. The bird was about the size of a robin, maybe a bit bigger. It would cling to the side of the tree, like a woodpecker, but it did not ever peck at the tree, while I was watching it. There were a couple of fairly large holes in the tree, and it is my belief that there was a nest there also. The bird was black with white along the edge of the wings. I think there was white around the head also, but my memory is starting to fail me. The most prominent feature though, was a red head crest. It was not very large though. It looked very similar to the pileated woodpecker shown in your site, but the crest was not anywhere near as large as that. I live in Alberta, Canada, I thought the location would be important.  Thanks so much for your help.. and once again.. thanks for this site!! I'm looking forward to using it often!!  :)

Using location = Alberta, head pattern = creasted and crown color = red I come up with the Pileated Woodpecker too. I believe the crest can be closed by the bird, so that may be why its not the same as the illustration.

If we ues location = Alberta and shape = tree clinging we get these 12 birds. These sr bhow several woodpeckers that could be your bird.

I'll let David and Simone have the final say on this. If you can take a photo and upload it to the Photo gallery it would help a lot.

Glad you like the site.

Mitch

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Mitch Waite

Yes, it does sound like you've seen a pileated woodpecker. The definitive characteristic would be the red crest, which other woodpeckers lack, but the other parts of your description match up as well. It is always a great day when you find one of these large, flamboyant woodpeckers!

David Lukas