| Its brilliant scarlet hood makes this woodpecker unmistakable and gives it both its common and Latin names. The wings and tail are bluish black with large white wing patches and white rump that is much more noticeable in flight. The underparts are white. Immature birds are similar to the adults but their heads are a duller brown and they have dark bars on the white wing patches. Their common call is a loud "Churr-Churr-Churr".
The habitat consist of the open farmlands and deciduous woodlands, especially beech and oak or in parks and golf courses of the eastern two thirds of the United States. They are particularly fond of orchards especially when there are dead trees present. During the winter they will withdraw from areas where the food supply is less reliable, retreating from southern Canada and the Great Lakes as well as the western most part of their range. But for most of the United States east of the Mississippi river they remain a year round resident.
The male establishes the territory and defends it by drumming and calling They can sometimes fend off competitors with aggressive displays by spreading their wings, fanning their tails, and bowing and bobbing their heads. During courtship the male will stretch his neck and hump his shoulders with his feathers sleeked back. The nest is mostly excavated by the male who will advertise the site by drumming. The female may tap on the prospective nest cavity if she finds it acceptable.
The clutch consists of 5 white eggs that are place in an unlined cavity of a barkless dead tree or fence post. Both parents incubate the eggs and care for the young with the male incubating and brooding during the night. The eggs hatch in 12 or 13 days and the young are able to fly about one month later. The young are fed insects, spiders and worms as well as berries. Though their nests are sometimes parasitized by the Brown-headed Cowbird, the Red-headed Woodpecker is a lousy foster parent and the parasite is almost always unsuccessful. Although they usually spurn birdhouses they will nest in natural cavities and will tend to use the same nesting sites in successive years. In the southern part of their range they commonly produce two broods. They will also renest in the north if the first brood is not successful.
The diet consists of a wide variety of foods. They may hawk insects during flight or glean wood-boring insects from the bark or foliage of trees as well as gleaning insects from the ground. They will also eat eggs and nestlings and occasionally mice and other small vertebrates as well as a variety of seeds. Like its close relative the Red-bellied Woodpecker they will store beechnuts and acorns for later use. The caches are often never used and are sometimes stolen by Blue Jays and Starlings. They can be attracted to your backyard with suet feeders, as well as sunflower seeds, cracked corn and bread.
Loss of habitat, especially hardwood bottomlands and competition for nesting sites from European Starlings have led to declines in the numbers of Red-headed Woodpeckers. They are often dominated by aggressive Starlings who sometimes drive these birds from their nests. The habit of removing dead trees for fire wood has also taken its toll on local populations. As habitat diminishes they sometimes resort to nesting in telephone poles, but the timber soaked with creosote is toxic to the young birds.
Length: 8 1/2 to 9 1/2 inches
|
