Pileated means having a crest on top of the head, like a cap or crown.

You'll most often hear this word when talking about the pileated woodpecker, one of North America's largest and most striking woodpeckers. This crow-sized bird has a brilliant red crest of feathers rising from the top of its head, making it look like it's wearing a fancy red cap. When you hear loud, powerful hammering echoing through the forest, you might be hearing a pileated woodpecker drilling into a dead tree, searching for carpenter ants and beetle larvae.

The pileated woodpecker's distinctive appearance inspired the cartoon character Woody Woodpecker, though the cartoon version is much more hyperactive than the real bird. In the wild, these magnificent birds drill rectangular holes in trees, which other animals later use as homes.

While the word pileated technically describes any crested creature, it's become so closely associated with this particular woodpecker that when birders say, “I saw a pileated today,” everyone knows exactly which species they mean.