I would also love to know the secret. I have at least ten woodpeckers that frequent my feeders, Downy's, Red Bellies and Hairy's but I have only seen a fleeting glance at a Pileated on occasion.

I found out that Pileateds need a tail prop. They have a hard time trying to eat from a swinging suet cage. If you fasten a suet cage to a board that is at least a foot longer than the bottom of the cage and nail the board to a tree they might come to it faster. In my experience they like plain beef suet as well as the homemade peanutbutter suet.

I have PWP at my hanging suet feeders and they have no problem at all hanging on and feeding. Posted a picture about a month ago.

Mine love the suet log. Just saw the male today. They prefer the vertical log, but will also use the horizontal log.

{{!gwi}}

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Liz in MN
Check out my {{!gwi}} and Live Feeder Cam

oh my gosh what a wonderful picture that is!!

Here's another one from a while back:

That is fabulous Gymell, that you get Pileateds at your feeding station. Do you have some woodlands nearby?

Pileated are attracted to forests, woodlands, large trees, and snags. I see Pileated woodpeckers regularly when walking in a nearby woodland, which encompasses about 100 acres. There is a beaver pond (approx 5 acres) within this woodland with many dead trees, and I could not believe how many different cavity nesters were nesting in this pond. I watched a mother Pileated feed her nestling about 30 feet away!

They occasionally come into my yard to poke around the dead snags that I have left standing but they don't stay long. So if you have any snags you can leave up, they are very attractive to woodpeckers. AFAIK, they've never come to the suet log, which is only about 5 feet away from the house.

Yes, though I live in a suburb of the Twin Cities, it's an area with a lot of mature trees, close to the Minnesota River and the MN Valley NWR. I had a dead tree in the yard that I intentionally left standing, but it blew over a few years ago in a storm. I actually wanted to "plant" another snag, but haven't been able to find a way to do it. But, I have made a lot of progress restoring native plant species in my back yard, which you can follow here: http://www.pbase.com/gymell/native_restoration. Also check out my live backyard feedercam. I just saw the pileated woodpecker there a few minutes ago.

Here's a better shot of my pileated friend from last summer, taken with a real camera rather than the web cam, on the burr oak tree next to my deck. You can see that the tree is very beat up. This is their favorite spot to land before heading over to the feeder. Over the summer they became very tame and came right up to the feeder while I was out in the yard. Maybe they got used to me because I spent so much time doing yard work. ;)

And also a brief appearance from another very exciting visitor to pass through my yard last spring:

Beautiful pics Gymell! I enjoyed looking through your album as well and LOL'd at the t-shirt! Your yard looks great and the prairie area looks like it will be beautiful.

Our situations are very similar - I am trying to create a native habitat on a 1.25 acre lot that was (and still is) horribly overgrown with invasives too. I've had 4 large Norway maples removed and have cut and poisoned tons of Oriental bittersweet and Buckthorn. I've got both Rhamnus cathartica (common buckthorn) and Frangula alnus (Glossy buckthorn) and detest Buckthorn almost as much as Oriental bittersweet. I also have a medium-sized weed wrench! Unfortunately, I've still got tons of work left to do.

Bummer on your nice snag tree - I've left up about a dozen Red pine snags, and 3 of them have blown over in the past year. I've got a gorgeous snag right in the middle of the back yard that looks like a tree sculpture to me. It was so exciting when a pair of Bluebirds decided to nest in this snag - successfully raising 2 broods last summer! I am afraid it is doomed to fall soon too and have actually discussed bracing it with an arborist. I have also discussed "planting" a snag with him but we haven't figured that out yet either.

Here is a pic of my favorite snag in the Back garden and Mr. Bluebird's hind end as he's feeding the nestlings last August -

That's a beautiful snag! I'm envious.

I would agree, a very cool snag. I would imagine it would be difficult to brace it. I've never heard of anyone planting a snag. If I had the trees I would probably just ring one to make my own snag. We usually get an ice storm once a year that creates alot large branch damage to our trees. All the WPs are drawn to the dead wood and especially the area were the break occurred. They also take advantage of the sapsucker areas.