I recently spotted a Male Pileated Woodpecker at Bernheim Forest. Just watching this guy repeatedly smashing his beak into the tree gave me a headache. The Pileated Woodpecker is nearly the size of a crow and is the 3rd largest Woodpecker on the planet. 

Seeing him smashing his beak into the wood with such ferocity made me wonder how they avoid brain damage. It turns out that 99.7% of the energy is dissipated through its body and neck, but the remaining 0.3% is dissipated through the heating of its skull. This is why they pause, as in my video below, when they are doing some serious excavating. They need to allow their head to cool off. Is this why people say, "cooler heads will prevail"?

They are extremely remarkable birds.