Mating Pair of Pileated Woodpeckers Sighted in Paramount Park

Wildlife Image of Pileated Woodpecker.

Photo Credit_ Steve Schneider

2006

A Mating Pair of Pileated Woodpeckers were spotted in Paramount Park yesterday. They are considered a "Priority Species" in WA State and are relatively uncommon, though they have been seen in Shoreline wildlife corridors quite frequently in the last decades. Paramount Park Neighborhood Group undertook a King County Wildlife Grant several years ago to install "Large Woody Debris" (LWD) and "Snags" into a restoration area.  A relatively large wildlife corridor stretches from Jackson Park in N Seattle and north through Paramount Park Natural Area, and up through Fircrest, Southwoods, and Hamlin Park and further North to Lake Forest Park through Grace Cole Nature Preserve and beyond.  Many of these wildlife corridors stretch along our urban creeks, such as Thornton Creek, Littles Creek and McAleer Creek.

These large birds feed largely on carpenter ants and beetles found in snags and rotting wood.
They are a spectacular sight in our urban area.