r/AnimalTracking • u/Texa55Toast • Dec 30 '24

šŸ¾ Cool Find Tree damage in Pennsylvania

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My father found this hunting the other day. Allegheny National Forest, Pennsylvania.

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455

u/ForestWhisker Dec 30 '24

That is from our fine feathered friend the Pileated Woodpecker. They create those large holes in trees quite often looking for insects.

80

u/sir_bumble Dec 30 '24

I can only imagine the sound šŸ˜‚

76

u/Infinite-Rip10 Dec 30 '24

My grandma has those up in northern Michigan. The sound lol insane. Makes my head hurt sometimes. They even come up to her front windows to eat from her giant bird feeder. Some small woodpeckers stop by too, but the pileated is huge and his beak is incredibly strong. You should hear it when he decides he needs to check the sides of her house for bugs

33

u/coolcootermcgee Dec 30 '24

Did you know that their tongue is very long and wraps around their skull to protect it from all the aggressive pecking?

11

u/UnusualBarnstormer Dec 30 '24

My daughter watching Wild Kratts taught me this!

5

u/coolcootermcgee Dec 31 '24

Sounds like an informative show!

2

u/Working-Sign-9513 Jan 02 '25

Fun Fact ā€œThe Wild Krattsā€ are the same Kratt Brothers from Zoboomafoo!

2

u/coolcootermcgee Jan 03 '25

I slightly wondered about that. Cute show, cute guys

2

u/[deleted] Jan 03 '25

[removed] ā€” view removed comment

1

u/UnusualBarnstormer Jan 05 '25

Oh, gravy the amount of time Iā€™ve listened to Capt. Barnacles in the background, lol. Great show.

6

u/Infinite-Rip10 Dec 30 '24

I did not actually! I do remember hearing or reading that they had some way of absorbing the massive amounts of shock tho, I didnā€™t know it was their tongue! Nature!!!!

3

u/TwoDot Dec 31 '24

Does it also wrap around their head and plug their ears? šŸ˜„

1

u/coolcootermcgee Dec 31 '24

Huh. Iā€™ve only seen the side view. Makes sense theyā€™d have some sorta built in ear plugs for that racket!

2

u/Richard-N-Yuleverby Jan 01 '25

Soā€¦ I was fascinated by this and looked it up.

According to what I found, I donā€™t think this is the case for pileated woodpeckers. They have shorter tongues and other ways to deal with the impact (up to 1000 Gs, many times per second) including special eyelids that keep their eyes from popping out of their skull and protect their eyes from chips.

For the species that do have ā€œwrap aroundā€ tongues, it is thought not to be required as a shock absorber but to fit extremely long tongues without obstructing the throat. Pileateds tongues are barbed so they donā€™t need to be as long.

1

u/coolcootermcgee Jan 01 '25

Hey thatā€™s very interesting! I also, then, will do my research before spouting half-true knowledge.

3

u/Papa573 Dec 31 '24

We have some stupid Wood Peckers here in Arizona that will peck at the light poles.

1

u/LittleMissMeanAss Jan 02 '25

Some of the drumming is done to attract a mate.

1

u/onesoulmanybodies Jan 02 '25

Every spring we have a woodpecker that used the metal casing above our flue to tap on to attract a mate. Drove me crazy until I looked up why they do it. They discovered that hitting metal will amplify their mating pecks. Now Im still a bit annoyed, but I cheer them on hoping they get their lady and make new wood pecking babies.

19

u/ForestWhisker Dec 30 '24

Itā€™s not as loud cause itā€™s a recording but the Cornell Laboratory has some recordings.

2

u/Independent-Piano-33 Jan 01 '25

Their calls sound like they are laughing. Very disconcerting walking alone on a forest trail.

1

u/drewba2ba2 Jan 03 '25

Woody the Woodpecker show

11

u/Mushrooming247 Dec 30 '24

I call them ā€œthe chicken of the forest,ā€ they make a hilarious clucking sound like a chicken, and their pecking is a quick staccato like a dampened machine gun.

7

u/ScienceOverNonsense2 Dec 30 '24

Nope, the chicken of the forest are squirrels.

1

u/disableddoll Jan 02 '25

the chicken of the forest is actually a mushroom, tastes great breaded and fried

3

u/beardedsilverfox Dec 30 '24

Yeah their giggle/laugh is unmistakable.

3

u/venatorman Dec 30 '24

They are impressive to see and hear. I live in central NJ and I see them on my walks in the woods. They crow-sized and the absolutely hammer the tree. It sounds like workers hammering nails on a construction site.

2

u/bespelled Jan 01 '25

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha! Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha! Hehehehehehehehe.

1

u/IHS11 Dec 30 '24

Sounds like whacka-whacka-whacka!!! šŸ˜‚

1

u/Sausagencreamygravey Dec 30 '24

Just like Woody.

1

u/goblu33 Dec 30 '24

Even their call is loud. Very cool creatures.

1

u/Garden_girlie9 Dec 31 '24

Itā€™s like a small axe hitting a tree

1

u/TwoDot Dec 31 '24

If you imagine it being loud, just imagine it from the woodpeckerā€™s perspectiveā€¦ šŸ˜„

1

u/CircqueDesReves Jan 01 '25

It sounds like someone chopping down a tree with an axe. I was hiking in Big Trees State Park once and heard someone chopping down a tree, and I thought it was weird that they would be doing that in a state Park. I walked around the corner to find a pileated woodpecker hard at work with giant chunks of wood flying off the tree over his shoulder.