Measurements
Both Sexes
- Length
- 7.5–9.1 in
19–23 cm - Wingspan
- 16.5 in
42 cm - Weight
- 2–3.2 oz
56–91 g
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.
Habitat
Open Woodland
- Breeds in deciduous woodlands, especially beech or oak, river bottoms, open woods, groves of dead and dying trees, orchards, parks, open country with scattered trees, forest edges, and open wooded swamps with dead trees and stumps. Attracted to burns and recent clearings.
- Winters in mature stands of forest, especially those with oaks.
Food
Omnivore
Most omnivorous woodpecker. Beech and oak mast, seeds, nuts, berries, fruit, insects, bird eggs, nestlings, mice.
Nesting
Nesting Facts
- Clutch Size
- 4–7 eggs
- Egg Description
- White.
- Condition at Hatching
- Hatch naked and helpless.
Nest Description
Nests in holes in dead trees or in dead branches, preferring snags with little bark remaining.
Nest Placement
Cavity
Behavior
Flycatching
Frequently flycatches for insects, flying out and returning to the same perch. Drills for insects in wood or bark. Occasionally visits feeders.
Conservation
Near Threatened
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.
Credits
- 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.