Melanerpes erythrocephalus
The Red-headed Woodpecker, *Melanerpes erythrocephalus*, is an iconic and strikingly patterned medium-sized woodpecker measuring 19-25 cm (7.5-9.8 in) in length with a wingspan of 38-46 cm (15-18 in) and weighing 56-91 g (2.0-3.2 oz). Adults are instantly recognizable by their entirely crimson head and neck, contrasting sharply with a glossy black back, primary feathers, and tail, and pristine white underparts. A prominent diagnostic feature, visible both in flight and at rest, is the large, ...
This woodpecker prefers open woodlands, savannas, orchards, golf courses, and forests with scattered dead trees (snags) and a grassy, open understory, generally at low to mid-elevations.
Their diet is highly omnivorous, consisting of a diverse array of insects (beetles, grasshoppers, ants, cicadas), nuts (acorns, beechnuts), berries, fruits, and occasionally eggs or nestlings of other birds.
Red-headed Woodpeckers are diurnal birds that typically roost in self-excavated cavities within snags or utility poles. They exhibit a diverse foraging strategy, adeptly flycatching insects in mid-air, gleaning prey from tree bark, probing for larvae, and extensively caching nuts, fruits, and eve...
The Red-headed Woodpecker breeds across much of eastern and central North America, extending from southern Canada (Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec) south through the eastern United States to the Gulf Coast and Florida, and west to the eastern Great Plains (including states like Nebraska, Kansas, Oklaho...
Near Threatened
- The Red-headed Woodpecker is one of only four woodpecker species in the world with an entirely red head, making it truly distinctive. - Unlike most woodpeckers, it is an extremely agile flycatcher, often sallying out from a perch to snatch insects from the air, much like a flycatcher. - This sp...