The Red Headed Woodpecker Project
Click here to hear the call of the Woodpecker
By: Gregory R.
Red-headed woodpecker
(melanerpes erythrocephalus)
     The Red-headed Woodpecker is a fairly large woodpecker. It is about 7.5 inches long. It has a red head and neck, white belly, black wings, back, and tail. Woodpeckers use their beaks to drill holes in trees to find insects. They have long tongues that helps them search in the holes. Red-headed woodpeckers also eat fruit and nuts and can catch flies in flight. Red-headed Woodpeckers are a permanent residents on the UTC. Usually found near man they seem to be localized. Some areas will have lots, others will not have any. They are usually found in areas with lots of dead trees. The Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) is about 8 ½ - 9 ½ inches long.  The male and female are similar. It is the only woodpecker with a completely red head. Its white wing patches are conspicuous. The red-headed woodpecker ranges east of the Rockies from Canada to the gulf states.

RANGE: Breeds from southern Saskatchewan, southern Ontario, southern New Hampshire, and southern New Brunswick south to central Texas, the Gulf Coast and Florida, extending west to central Montana, eastern Wyoming, eastern Colorado, and central New Mexico, rarely to northeastern Utah.  Winters regularly through the southern two thirds of the breeding range, rarely or casually north to the limits of the breeding range.

STATUS: Common, but declining in the Southeast.

HABITAT: Inhabits relatively open forests or wood lots with low stem density, preferring
savannah- like grasslands with scattered trees and forest edges. Attracted to areas with many dead
trees which provide nesting and roosting sites, and lush herbaceous ground cover that produces
abundant insect populations. Tends to avoid forests with closed canopies, but will move from forest
edges to the interior during winter.

SPECIAL HABITAT REQUIREMENTS: Relatively open forests with dead and dying trees for cavities and feeding perches.

NEST: Nests generally in the trunk of a dead tree but sometimes in a dead limb. Tends to select
isolated snags for nesting, especially those without bark.

FOOD: In summer, mostly eats insects caught by hawking from perches in dead trees; stores mast, mainly acorns, beechnuts, and corn, under bark, in cracks, knotholes, and tree cavities for winter use. The red-headed woodpecker, Melanerpes erythrocephalus, is up to 10 inches long with a wingspread of 16-18 inches. Its entire head, neck and upper breast are a bright red, with bluish black wings and tail, and large areas of white on the rear part of the wings and the upper rump, especially noticeable in flight.