Pileated Woodpeckers and Other Apple Eaters

Yesterday afternoon we were excited to hear the calls of Pileated Woodpeckers in our backyard. We’ve been expecting them and they were right on schedule, a harbinger of fall for us! Two years ago when we moved into this house the last week of September, my husband was surprised to find a large Pileated Woodpecker in one of our apple trees, eating ripe golden apples. He shooed the woodpecker away, but I thought it was pretty cool and wanted to see him. Last year at the end of September and first week of October, when the apples were ready, the woodpecker was back in the trees. Yesterday he had his mate with him. We know when a Pileated Woodpecker is coming because they announce their arrival loudly from the forest behind the house, like they’re broadcasting their apple-eating intentions.

Red-breasted Sapsuckers come to drill holes in our trees and Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers are at our feeders regularly, but this is the only time of year when Pileated Woodpeckers come into our yard, although we can sometimes hear them in the forest about fifty feet away. I have seen this Pileated Woodpecker pair making holes in dead trees along the path to the beach in their search for carpenter ants. According to Cornell All About Birds, the woodpeckers are monogamous and guard large territories so it’s likely the only pair living in the small forest behind our house and the same pair that visits our apple trees.

In the past they’ve only eaten golden apples but yesterday the male also chose a red one. I didn’t have a clear view of him as he ate because they hide behind the leaves, but I could see his head going up and down as he pecked away. Part of the apple fell to the ground when the pair was disturbed by my attempts to take photos of them. It was interesting to see the half-eaten apple after they flew back to the forest because it was essentially a carved out apple peel. The peel is probably not as easy to digest.

We’ve already had to pick most of the apples before they dropped and before the finches pecked holes in too many of them. The yard is unfenced and deer check under the trees for fallen apples, bringing their fawns with them. Douglas Squirrels and Cottontail Rabbits also eat the apples that drop, but one of the true joys of fall is having apples to share with Pileated Woodpeckers.