Pileated Woodpeckers on Ash Trees

[BetCrooks]

I've noticed recently at two different Mississauga parks (Riverwood; Rattray Marsh) that the Pileateds are very quiet when they hunt on dead ash trees. They listen, then shear off the bark in large bits, then eat. There is almost no hammering to get what they want. I've also noticed people walking right by them even though they are only a few yards/metres off the trails and up a trunk a few yards/metres probably because they are so quiet. I think people who do hear the noise may think it's just another Hairy/Downy. Certainly the people I pointed the birds out to recently were quite surprised, though pleased to see them.

Has anyone else noticed this or noticed what seems to be an increase in Pileated numbers over the past few years as the Ash trees die?

[JW Mills]

I assume when you say hammering that you are not talking about drumming. It's been my experience that when Pileateds are feeding they are actually relatively quiet. It's when they are drumming that they are very loud.
 
 I don't know my trees so I can't comment on the Ash business. As for people, if they are not "birders" they don't see birds. I remember one time I was standing on a paved path watching a Great Blue Heron about twenty feet away when two people stopped and asked me what I was looking at. I mean how can you not see a GBH?! When I pointed it out they were amazed at how big it was!