Cooperative Living July 2014 - 27

RED-HEADEDWOODPECKER
A
n adult red-headed woodpecker is
a very distinctive bird, one not
likely to be confused with any
other species.
This handsome woodpecker measures
about 8½ to 9½ inches, has a totally red
head with a thin edging of black dividing
it from the white of the lower breast and
belly, which also may sometimes be lightly
washed with light salmon or yellow.
Its back and wings are bluish-black
with large white wing patches on its
secondaries, and a white rump. The tail is
black with white edges.
This combination of red, white, and
blue-black colors has led some to name it
the " patriot bird, " or " flag bird. " Because
of its white rump and wing patches, it has
also been called the " shirt-tailed bird. "
Its scientific name is Melanerpes
erythrocephalus, meaning " black creeper
with a red head. " Juvenile birds have a
brownish-gray head and neck, sometimes
with a touch of red, and an upper body
spotted and streaked with darker, dusky
coloring, found as well on the flanks and
breast. The young will molt through the
winter to spring, when they acquire adult
plumage.
The flight style is typical of
woodpeckers -an undulating, rollercoaster-like
pattern ―and it often swoops
low over the ground, resulting in many
being hit by vehicles on the highways.
The red-headed woodpecker likes to
perch at or near the tops of tall dead trees.
It feeds on a variety of insects, including
beetles, beetle larvae, moths, caterpillars,
and wasps, sometimes flying out like a
flycatcher to grab them. This woodpecker
will also go to the ground for ants,
grasshoppers and crickets, and it
consumes a variety of wild berries and
fruit, seeds, acorns and beechnuts, often
storing nuts in tree crevices for later use.
The red head has a variety of calls and
chatterings, the most recognizable being a
" tchurr-tchurr, " with rolling " Rs " at the
end or a loud " queeeoo-queeoo-queeer. "
During courtship and nesting it can be
quite noisy and active. This bird seems to
July 2014/www.co-opliving.com
delight in much swooping and chasing
around the nest cavity, and later as the
parent birds come and go during
incubating and feeding. In spring this bird
may drum on roofs or rain gutters to
announce its territory, as do flickers or
red-bellied woodpeckers. Nesting takes
place in May and June.
This combination
of red, white,
and blue-black
colors has led
some to
name it the
" patriot bird, "
or " flag bird. "
Like other woodpeckers, the red head
nests in tree cavities chiseled in the tops
of mainly deciduous trees or tall old tree
stumps and branches of oak, sycamore,
cottonwood, willow, maple, elm and
others; only occasionally in conifers. It
tends to build higher than other
woodpeckers, often 60 to 80 feet off the
ground. However, it will nest lower in
posts, stumps or poles if favored nesting
sites are scarce.
The red-headed woodpecker hen may
lay four to seven glossy white eggs. A
normal clutch is about five, which hatch
in about 14 days. Both parents share in
the feeding chores. The young have
especially long necks to enable them to
reach up from inside the nest cavity,
which may be as deep as 2 feet. A second
brood is started as soon as the first is
fledged. Young birds from the first brood
are then pretty much on their own,
although they may remain around the
nest site.
Look for this colorful bird in open
woodlands of oaks and other large
deciduous trees, especially forests that are
dead or dying, or even pastureland with
scattered stands of oaks. Old beaver
ponds that have drained and dried,
grown up in grasses with tall old trees at
their edges comprise another good
habitat. Sometimes the red-headed
woodpecker will inhabit small patches of
swampy woodlots surrounded by fields.
Yet, you may also find them nesting in big
shade trees and old telephone poles in the
middle of a city or town. I remember one
time watching a pair of red-headed
woodpeckers in a dying elm alongside a
busy fast-food restaurant on a very busy
corner in a small town. The noise and
traffic didn't seem to bother them. These
wood-peckers breed from coast to coast,
from Canada south to New Mexico, east
along the Gulf Coast to Florida.
The red-headed woodpecker has been
known to damage fruit orchards and is
known to destroy other birds' eggs.
Flying squirrels in turn are thought to
prey on the red head's eggs. This
woodpecker has been declining in
numbers in recent decades in the
northeast, partially because of habitat loss
of dead or dying trees, and because of
competition with starlings for natural
cavities for nesting.
Beginning about mid-September, redheaded
woodpeckers migrate in small
groups, although some may actually
winter as far north as Wisconsin in the
Midwest and New Jersey in the east if
they find nuts and other foods available.
Many retire southward only to the
Carolinas and Georgia. Migrants through
the Mid-Atlantic are those that breed in
the north from British Columbia to
Quebec. 
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Cooperative Living July 2014

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