Juvenile Pileated Woodpeckers (Identification with Pictures)

woodpecker (peacock) is a uniquely American bird species. These crow-sized members of the Picidae family are found throughout the eastern half of the United States, southern Canada, and western California.

Birdwatchers can spot baby birds from summer to fall, but what do they look like and how do they differ from their parents?

Juvenile Pileated woodpeckers resemble their parents, although they are smaller when first eclosioned. Juveniles have shorter red crests than their parents and have brown rather than yellow eyes. Juveniles also have yellowish beaks, which are duller overall.

Juvenile Pileated woodpeckers spend the first few months with their parents after leaving the nest. Birders can listen to their gentle begging and contact calls, and watch the adults feed their young. One or more children following each parent may be united or separated.

There is still a lot to learn about juvenile Pileated woodpeckers. Read along with us for some great identification tips and some fascinating insights.

Closeup of a juvenile Pileated Woodpecker foraging on a tree stump

What Do Juvenile Pileated Woodpeckers Look Like?

Woodpeckers are large, bold, and easily recognizable birds in American forests. However, they start their lives as helpless pups weighing just half an ounce (14 grams).

The chicks are born blind, pink and featherless, but they grow rapidly during their first two weeks. Aside from the differences in crown size and eye and opening color mentioned above, juveniles resemble adults when they are ready to leave the nest.

Like their parents, juvenile woodpeckers are large forest birds with a black body, white stripes on the face and neck, and a prominent red feather on the head. These birds have large gray feet, a longer tail and a thick pointed beak.

Juvenile male and female woodpeckers have distinctly different head feathers, so you can tell them apart as early as nine days after hatching. Like their parents, young females have black stripes on their cheeks, while males have red stripes.

Males also have a red crest that extends to the base of the beak, while females have a red crest and black forehead.

Read on to learn more about the size of juvenile Pileated woodpeckers.

Close Portrait A Juvenile Pileated Woodpecker

How Big Are Juvenile Pileated Woodpeckers?

Juvenile Pileated woodpeckers molt from the nest at 3.5 to 4.5 weeks of age. At this age, they weigh about two-thirds of their adult body weight.

Studies from New York and Arkansas found that chicks weighed between 5.7 and 8.6 ounces (163 grams and 244 grams) the day before fledging. In comparison, adults typically weigh between 8.8 and 12.3 ounces (250 grams and 350 grams).

Young birds also develop feathers before their flight feathers grow to adult size. When they leave the nest, these feathers are about 75 percent of their adult body length, which partly explains their clumsy, clumsy way of flying.

When Do Juvenile Pileated Woodpeckers Moult?

Pileated woodpeckers complete their first molt (juveniles) in the nest. They begin a second (premature) molt before leaving the nest and complete this incomplete molt in October.

Juvenile Pileated Woodpecker perched on a branch

What Do Juvenile Woodpeckers Eat?

Both parents feed the baby Pileated woodpecker. When the chicks are young, the adults return to the nest hourly, but as the chicks grow, they slow down to every hour.

Adult birds feed their chicks on insects, bringing the food inside the nest at first, but when the hungry chicks learn to poke their heads out of the nest opening, they stay outside.

Juvenile woodpeckers receive food from their parents until fall. A young bird opened its mouth slightly and called softly. This prompts their parents to offer rumination meals. Roundhead beetle larvae and other insects are an important food source for growing birds.

Juveniles must learn to feed themselves when they disperse in the fall. They feed on ants, beetle larvae, nuts and fruit.

Woodpeckers find food by burrowing into logs, stumps, dead and decaying parts of living trees. They use their long, barbed tongues to suck insects away from their tunnels and colonies in the woods.

Woodpeckers also remove prey from tree trunks and limbs, or lift off the bark to find insects hiding underneath. These large woodpeckers will visit large suet feeders in the backyard and will be attracted to fruiting plants such as hackberry, elderberry, sumac and dogwood.

Pileated woodpecker chick on tree stump

How long will Pileated Woodpecker juvenile feathers last?

Bird watchers can spot young Pileated woodpeckers in juvenile plumage from June to August each year. Unlike many other birds, juveniles of this species have the same colors and patterns as adults. However, a smaller red crest is a good marker for identifying youngsters.

How long do juvenile Pileated woodpeckers stay with their parents?

The woodpecker’s nesting period lasts several months, beginning with the laying of three to five eggs in May or June. Once hatched, the adults care for their young for several months after they leave the nest.

While the chicks are still learning to fly, the parents will stay near the nest, but as the flight feathers grow and the chicks become more capable, they will begin to follow the parents further afield.

Juvenile Pileated woodpeckers stay with their parents for two to three months after leaving the nest. They leave their parent’s territory in the fall to find their own vacant space and breeding partners.

Young Pileated Woodpecker Looking Out From Nest

behavioral difference

Juvenile Pileated woodpeckers may look similar to their parents, but watching them for a month or two after they leave the nest will reveal some telltale signs. From June to August each year, please be aware of the following behaviors.

call

Young Pileated Woodpeckers make vocalizations while begging for food. The behavior begins in the nest when chicks learn to squeal every time their parents come back to feed them.

Juvenile Pileated woodpeckers often make soft touch calls to bond with their parents and cluck when feeding. They start making adult calls within a month or two of their fledgling days.

flight

Juvenile Pileated woodpeckers leave the nest before their feathers are fully developed, and it may take several days for the young to learn the skill of sustained flight. Watch out for these awkward youngsters in the summer.

to perch

Woodpeckers roost in burrows they dig in trees. Adolescents may take over a month to perfect the behavior and begin sleeping in the shelter of a large live tree. In some cases, they first roost with their parents.

Juvenile female Pileated woodpecker foraging for larvae in woodland

Do juvenile Pileated woodpeckers visit their parents?

Juvenile woodpeckers stay with their parents for several months after they leave the nest, but once they become adults, they leave rather than return. Young birds are intolerant in parental territory after they have gained independence and have their own space.