Woodpecker (Pileated)

The Pileated woodpecker is about 15 inches in length and is the largest woodpeckers found in North America. Common in Ontario where I live, yet this is the first time I have seen or photographed...and it is in Florida.

It has a black body, a red crest, white stripes on its neck and black and white stripes on its face. It has yellow bristly feathers over its nostrils that keep out wood chips. It has a long, sticky tongue; a long, sharp pointed bill and yellow eyes. Males and females are similar, but males have a red forehead, and females have a gray to yellowish brown forehead. 

The pileated woodpecker lives in coniferous and deciduous forests in Canada from British Columbia east to Nova Scotia. It can be found in most areas of the eastern United States.

Photographed in the wild, Kissimmee, FL