Red-headed Woodpecker

Red-headed Woodpecker adult

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Red-headed Woodpecker, immature

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1. Description
2. Sound
3. Conservation Status
4. Other Names
5. Cool Facts
6. Full detailed species account

An unmistakable bird, the Red-headed Woodpecker is striking at rest and in flight, showing its colors of red, black, and white. It is one of the most aggressive members of the family and one of the most omnivorous.

Description

• Medium-sized woodpecker.
• Bright red hood.
• White chest.

• Size: 19-23 cm (7-9 in)
• Wingspan: 42 cm (17 in)
• Weight: 56-91 g (1.98-3.21 ounces)

Sex Differences

Sexes alike.

Sound

Call a loud "tchur-tchur."

Conservation Status

Breeding Bird Survey data show the species is declining over much of its breeding range. An edge species, it declines where forests mature. It is increasing in areas where beavers are increasing and creating more flooded beaver meadows with dead snags.

Other Names

Pic à tête rouge (French)
Carpintero de cabeza roja (Spanish)

Cool Facts

• The Red-headed Woodpecker is one of only four woodpeckers known to store food, and it is the only one known to cover the stored food with wood or bark. It hides insects and seeds in cracks in wood, under bark, in fence posts, and under roof shingles. Grasshoppers are regularly stored alive, but wedged into crevices so tightly that they cannot escape.

• In addition to attacking other birds to keep them out of its territory, the Red-headed Woodpecker is also known to remove the eggs of other species from nests and nest boxes, destroy nests, and even to enter duck-nesting boxes and puncture the duck eggs.

• The Red-headed Woodpecker benefited from the chestnut blight and Dutch elm disease. The devastating tree diseases killed many trees and provided nest sites for the woodpeckers.

Sources used to construct this page:

Smith, K. G., J. H. Withgott, and P. G. Rodewald. 2000. Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus). In The Birds of North America, No. 518 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.