![Female crimson-crested woodpecker from behind (photo from Wikimedia Commons)](https://www.birdsoutsidemywindow.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/CCWO_female_rsz_RWD_wiki.jpg)
From behind this bird looks a lot like a pileated woodpecker, but when you see its face and belly you know it’s something different.
![Crimson-crested woodpecker (photo from Wikimedia Commons)](https://www.birdsoutsidemywindow.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/CCWO_male2_rsz_wiki.jpg)
Female crimson-crested woodpeckers (above) aren’t as colorful as the males.
![Male crimson-crested woodpecker (photo from Wikimedia Commons)](https://www.birdsoutsidemywindow.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/CCWO_male1_rsz_wiki.jpg)
Native to Panama and northern South America, the crimson-crested woodpecker (Campephilus melanoleucos) resembles a pileated woodpecker but its closest North American relative is the ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis), a probably-extinct bird that was reported once in Arkansas in 2004 but never seen again.
It’s like a bird from home, but not the one we thought.
(photos from Wikimedia Commons; click on the images to see the originals)
p.s. At home in Pittsburgh, trying to catch up.
I always enjoy reading your articles. Love hearing about different birds and animals.