Mariton: Pileated Woodpeckers

by Tim Burris, Preserve Manager

I often hear Pileated Woodpeckers at Mariton while walking the trails, and even when working in the yard.  I am lucky to see them regularly.  These holes on a Sassafras (Sassafras albidum) tree are very fresh.  I had walked by this tree about a week before an it wasn’t marked.  This is located right where the South Fox and North Fox Trails merge.  This tree is one of the larger Sassafras’ at Mariton, so I always look at it when I pass.  There are three large holes and several smaller ones.  In the photo above, the Pileated hole to the right of the trunk is the same hole seen on the left in the photo below.  A lot of work in a week.