…banged into my window this morning and stayed long enough for me to get his picture.  Sorry it is not better, but I was amazed that I could sneak, get my camera and at least get this photo. He was examining the room through the window, and I’m not sure I know what he was looking at, but happy he stayed long enough for me to admire him.  I have seen them before, at my son’s house in New Jersey, and then again in the Pennsylvania mountains but never expected to see one in Central Florida.  Their habitat is forests, with older and dead trees.  We are on the preserve, but we are also across from a farm and beyond the farm is the woods.  Many creatures make their home in those woods and come out and visit from time to time..bobcats, cayotes, armadillas and now a pileated woodpecker. Their length is 19″ and they have a wingspan of 29.5 inches, that is almost Woody Woodpecker’s size.  I happened to be in the room when he hit the window and I actually jumped,  he hit so hard I probably would have heard him even if I had been in the other room. Their diet is 40% ants (which we have) and then berries.  I have a holly tree that  is brimming with berries right now, so will keep my eye on it as that may have been the attraction.  I have said it before and I will say it again, The Villages has everything, even pileated woodpeckers.