Red-Headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus)

County List:

Rule:

Mixed Forested/Nonforested Landscapes

1st alternative:
      (Oak (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
      or (Northern Hardwoods (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
   containing:
      Mast and Snags
   adjacent to:
      Edge

2nd alternative:
      Savanna
   containing:
      (Mast and Snags)

Habitat List:

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Literature:

Inhabits open deciduous woodlands. It is not found in urban areas.

Habitat: The Red-headed Woodpecker nests in more open woodland than some of its relatives. It breeds in farmlands, old burns, prairie edges, or partially cleared areas where dead trees or snags are standing. Barkless trees are generally used for nest sites. Creosote-treated utility poles have been lethal to eggs and young. Nesting cavities 20.5-61.4 cm deep are, unfortunately, also suitable for European Starlings nests. Battles between the two species may go for several days, the more aggressive starlings usually winning. This woodpecker does not utilize bird houses.

Atlas Habitat Survey data showed a clear preference for dry and mesic deciduous forest areas (oak or oak-hickory and beech-sugar maple) in both peninsulas. A few were found in floodplain forests. Residential and roadside areas with trees greater than 50 feet were also used.

Winter residence fluctuates widely from year to year depending on acorn and beech crops. Like its close relative in the west, the Acorn Woodpecker, the red-head stores nuts in cracks, knotholes, and crannies for later use. In winter, the red-head will come to feeders for suet, sunflower seeds, and cracked corn.

Habitat: Breeding: Lowland and upland habitats, river bottoms, wooded swamps, beaver ponds, open deciduous woods, groves of dead and dying trees, orchards, open agricultural country. Prefers savanna-like grasslands with scattered trees and forest edges. Wintering: Birds move from forest interior. Oaks and maples that provide mast may be important components of winter habitat.

Special Habitat Requirements: Prefers open areas with snags and lush herbaceous ground cover.

Habitat: Groves, farm country, orchards, shade trees in towns, large scattered trees. Avoids unbroken forest, favoring open country or at least clearings in the woods. Forest edges, orchards, open pine woods, groves of tall trees in open country are likely habitats. Winter habitats influenced by source of food in fall, such as acorns or beechnuts.

Diet: Omnivorous. Perhaps the most omnivorous of woodpeckers. Diet includes wide variety of insects, also spiders, earthworms, nuts, seeds, berries, wild and cultivated fruit, rarely small rodents. Sometimes eats eggs and nestlings of other birds. Also sometimes eats bark.

Nest: Male's winter roosting cavity may be used for nest, or new cavity may be excavated (mostly by male); female indicates acceptance of site by tapping on tree. Nest cavity is in bare dead tree or dead limb, from a few feet above ground to 65 feet or higher.

Conservation Status: Declining. Reasons for decline not well known, probably include loss of potential nest sites (from cutting of dead trees), competition with starlings for nest cavities. When swooping out to catch insects in flight along roadsides, often struck by cars.