Saw 2 of these outside my window yesterday. I don't get to see them very often. I used a telephoto lens to get this pic. The original was much darker, but a naturalist friend of mine said with the darker image, she couldn't see if it was male or female. I guess the "mustache" on the male is red and it's black on the female. Once I lightened it up, I could see it's mustache is red.
I suppose the only down side of having these birds around is that they create huge holes in live trees for their nests. But I would welcome them anyhow!
Pileated woodpecker cropped and zoomed and lightened IMG_2893.jpg