I believe that you are describing the Pileated Woodpecker, an enormous and noisy guy.
I remember taking a walk one spring and, seeing wooden shingles raining on the ground, thinking that my neighbor was reroofing his house.
As I got closer, I saw the Pileated ripping off huge slabs of bark in order to make his nest in a very large dying maple tree. In flagrante
When they fly, they look like Pteradactyls
I keep a bird ID book both in the car and in my living room. How can you not want to check this amazing bird out?
edit: This bird cannot be mistaken for any other bird, unless the ivory-billed (thought to be extinct) has really re-appeared in the south.