I heard a loud knocking sound and looked out my bedroom window one morning this week. On the large tree closest to the house was a piliated woodpecker. It had rained very hard the night before and the bark of the tree was very wet and punky. He was having breakfast and making a racket. Pilated woodpeckers are the largest woodpecker, larger that a big crow. Seeing this wild bird was a wonderful gift to start the day. My friend Anna told me later that day that woodpeckers do not make that sound with their beaks. They are actually knocking their foreheads against the tree. Their beaks do make a noise but it is not very loud. And yes, Woody the Woodpecker was a piliated woodpecker.