noun
A large North American woodpecker with mainly black plumage and a red cap and crest.
Dryocopus pileatus, family Picidae
‘While hiking, canoeing, kayaking, or eating a picnic lunch, watch for Gulf Coast spiny softshell turtles, loggerhead shrikes, pileated woodpeckers, Seminole bats, and spotted salamanders.’- ‘After contemplating the hard life of the hard-rock miner, take a hike on the Eureka Peak Loop Trail, where we spotted a Sierra aviary of birds, including pileated woodpeckers and calliope hummingbirds.’
- ‘In the woods, a variety of large and small animals and birds are attracted to red maple, including deer, elk, screech owls, moose and pileated woodpeckers.’
- ‘A green tree and snag retention strategy focuses on protecting large snags that may be used by species such as Vaux's swift, pileated woodpeckers, and myotis bats.’
- ‘Under current American constitutional law, swampland and pileated woodpeckers are ‘persons.’’
Origin
Late 18th century pileated from Latin pileatus ‘capped’, from pileus ‘felt cap’.
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