Field Guide for all the Birds of North America
Red-headed Woodpecker
Pic à tête rouge
Melanerpes erythrocephalus
Information, images and range maps on over 1,000 birds of North America, including sub-species, vagrants, introduced birds and possibilities
Species: The Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) is found throughout eastern North America. This member of the woodpecker family does not peck the trees to locate its food but finds most of its food by capturing flying insects in the air or by gleaning its prey off limbs and branches of trees. The population has suffered and declining numbers overall are probably because of competition from the starling, which is also a cavity nesting bird species.
Distinctions: The male and female have complete red heads and necks with black and white bodies. In flight, large amounts of white on the wings become visible because of the all-white secondaries and rump. Juveniles have similar body plumage but have brown rather than red heads.
Voice: Rattle-type flight call, not very loud contact call. Like most woodpeckers, they do communicate through drumming on dry twigs or hollow limbs of trees.
Nesting: Four to five white eggs, one to two broods per year. Nest is located in a cavity of a tree in which both parents pecked out. These woodpeckers are prone to nest in bird houses designed for woodpeckers in particular.
Life, Habitat & Pictures of North American Woodpeckers
| B L | W W | W | Family | Latin Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9.25" 22.86cm | 17" 43.18cm | 2.5oz 70.88g | Picidae | Melanerpes erythrocephala |
North American Bird Calls
- Click to hear Choice 1
- Summer
- Year Around
- Winter
Distribution: Found throughout farmfields with woodstands, woodlots and forests, from southern Quebec through southern Ontario, west into southern Saskatchewan and down into New Mexico, through most of Texas and across to the Atlantic coast and into southern Florida.
References to Other Bird Sites:
Avibase - the world bird database This site provides the user with a complete list of bird species, broken down per country, or in the example of the US or Canada, per state and province. Here, bird species names are available in other languages, a great asset to be used as a translation of foreign bird names.
ABA - American Birding Association This site represents an organization that maintains official records of all birds species that have been proven to have been seen inside the perimeters of the North American Continent and the surrounding bodies of water. Regular revised versions are posted to keep the bird list current at all times. This is the list used by all serious birders over their lifetime. You may be aware of the movie called the "Big Year". It was with this list that all the competing birders used in an attempt to set a new record as to how many bird species that could be seen by an individual birder in one calendar year.
I hope you will take advantage of these suggested websites. I have used each of them, in one way or another, throughout the years in my quest to better identify and understand our fine feathered friends.
