Skip to main content Skip to navigation
Home
Today's Show: Migration Routes Evolve
Illustration from cover of Living on the Wind by Scott Weidensaul
Listen In
  • Today's Show
  • Listen
    • Daily Shows
    • Threatened
    • Grouse
    • BirdNote Presents
    • How to Listen
  • Explore
    • Field Notes
    • Sights & Sounds
    • Birdwatching
    • Resources for Educators
  • How to Help Birds
    • At Home
    • In Your Community
    • Success Stories
  • About
    • The BirdNote Story
    • The Team
    • Partners
    • For Radio Stations
    • Funding
    • Contact Us
    • FAQs
    • Support BirdNote
  • Donate

Woodpeckers Carve Out Roost Cavities, Too

Excavation time - again!
Subscribe to the Podcast
Download
  • Share This:
  • Share to Facebook
  • Share to Twitter
  • Share to Email
Pileated Woodpecker
© Chad Wilson

In spring, we often hear woodpeckers hard at work, carving out nest holes in tree trunks. And now that fall has arrived, we may hear that excavating sound again. Some woodpecker species stay year round in the region where they nest, while others migrate south in winter. Those that remain, like this Pileated Woodpecker, are chiseling out roosting cavities, snug hollows where they’ll shelter during the cold nights of fall and winter.

Every Friday, BirdNote email subscribers enjoy the most colorful message they’ll get all week, ... with beautiful photos, links to upcoming episodes, and info on special features. Sign up for our newsletter this week!

  • Full Transcript
  • Credits

BirdNote®  
Woodpeckers Carve Out Roost Cavities, Too
Written by Bob Sundstrom

This is BirdNote.

[Pileated Woodpecker chiseling a nest hole] 

A familiar sound of spring: a woodpecker hard at work, carving out a nest hole in a tree trunk [woodpecker chiseling a nest hole]. Here the female will lay her eggs and the pair will raise their young. When you’re lucky, you can hear young woodpeckers, like these Pileated Woodpeckers begging from within the trunk. [Young Pileated Woodpeckers begging] 

But now that fall has arrived, we may hear an excavating sound again – [Pileated Woodpecker excavating a roost hole] 

What’s going on? 

It turns out that some woodpecker species stay year round in the region where they nest, while others migrate south in winter. Those that remain through the colder months – well, it’s safe to say they’re not nesting now. No, these fall excavators are chiseling out roosting cavities, snug hollows where they’ll shelter during the cold nights of fall and winter. 

Many woodpeckers roost in such cavities, usually by themselves. Even the young, once they’re fledged, have to find their own winter quarters. 

With woodpeckers, once the nights turn cold, it’s every bird for itself. [Pileated Woodpecker chiseling a nest hole] 

Writers for BirdNote include Bob Sundstrom, Ellen Blackstone, Todd Peterson, Dennis Paulson and Chris Peterson. Our producer is John Kessler. For BirdNote, I’m Mary McCann. [Pileated Woodpecker chiseling a nest hole]

Every Friday, BirdNote email subscribers enjoy the most colorful message they’ll get all week, ... with beautiful photos, links to upcoming episodes, and info on special features. Sign up for our newsletter this week, at BirdNote.org!

###

Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York.  Pileated Woodpecker excavating a cavity [119461] recorded by G.A. Keller; and begging calls of Pileated Woodpecker [63120] by G.A. Keller.
BirdNote’s theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© 2015 Tune In to Nature.org    October  2013/2018/2019   Narrator: Mary McCann

ID#  woodpecker-09-2013-10-28woodpecker-09               

Information sources include: Alexander Skutch, Birds Asleep, U. of Texas press, 1989.

http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/sciencef/scifi57.pdf                 http://www.sialis.org/dowobio.htm 

Bob Sundstrom
Writer
Mary McCann
Narrator
Support More Shows Like This
Tagsecology nesting woodpecker

Related Resources

Pileated Woodpecker – More at the Audubon Guide to North American BirdsPileated Woodpecker - More at All About BirdsLearn more about woodpeckers

More About These Birds

Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus)

Dryocopus pileatus

Sights & Sounds

Related Field Notes

December 18, 2017

What does it take to record the world’s birds?

By Gerrit Vyn
February 14, 2013

Converting Pastures to Forest in Hawai'i

By John Kessler
Last November while vacationing on Hawaii’s Big Island, I had the chance to spend a day with Jack

Birds connect us with the joy and wonder of nature. By telling vivid, sound-rich stories about birds and the challenges they face, BirdNote inspires listeners to care about the natural world – and take steps to protect it.

Support BirdNote

  • Daily Shows
  • Field Notes
  • BirdNote Presents
  • Sights & Sounds
  • About BirdNote
  • Contact BirdNote
Sign up for our newsletter!
  • BirdNote on Facebook
  • BirdNote on Twitter
  • BirdNote on Instagram

Copyright 2020. All rights reserved.

  • Privacy Policy