Apologies, UVBirders, if you are receiving the msg below as a duplicate. I
sent it to the listserve on Friday; however, it has not appeared in my In
Box and, therefore I assume, not yours either.

Following is Peter's response to Bob Norman's question about Pileated
Woodpecker diet:

Bob Norman asked about Pileated Woodpeckers eating fruit, prompted by his
observation of a bird consuming sumac berries. According to the Birds of
North America species account (by Evelyn Bull and Jerry Jackson), these
woodpeckers predominantly take ants and beetle larvae, but also fruit and
mast of wild nuts when available. Their diet changes seasonally and fruit is
more important in the fall. An analysis of stomach contents (not recorded as
to season) found over one-fourth of the remains to be berries from many
kinds of trees and shrubs, including dwarf sumac and poison sumac. The
woodpecker Bob saw was eating berries out of season, but perhaps it found
them a tempting respite from ants.

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