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Red Headed Woodpecker

The Red Headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) is a medium sized woodpecker (What Bird). On average the species weighs 70g, is 23cm long, and has a wingspan of 35cm (Axley). Red Headed Woodpeckers have a great number of nicknames. These include Flying Checkerboard, half a shirt, shirt tail bird, jellycoat, and flag bird (Life History). These nicknames and its actual name all come from its coat pattern.

The Red Headed Woodpecker is easily recognizable from its distinctive red head (Peterson Field Guide). It has a red or crimson head, neck, throat, and upper breast. The wings and tails are a bluish-black and there is also a large square area of white on the rear part of the wings and upper rump (Animal Diversity; ARKive). The beak is a bluish-grey color, the eyes are usually a dark brown. Males and females are identical, except that males are slightly larger (Oiseaux-birds). On the other hand the offspring have a completely different coat pattern. Immature Red Headed Woodpeckers have white patches on their wings, buffy-brown heads and necks. Eventually, the brown becomes red after their first molt (Animal Diversity; ARKive). The Red Headed Woodpecker is the only woodpecker in the east that has a completely red head (What Bird).

Territorial conflicts between the same species of woodpeckers are rare, while territorial conflicts between other species of woodpeckers are common (Kilham).

The Red Headed Woodpecker was once a common species. A significant population decline occurred during the last century. These declines were mainly due to changes in land management within their ecosystems and loss of oak savannas (Habitat Use). Due to these declines the species is now considered “Near Threatened” (Life History). The Red Headed Woodpecker’s preferred habitat is open woodlands, forest edges, clearings, deciduous woodlands, river bottoms, orchards, open country (Animal Diversity), and forests with abundant pin oaks (Kilham).

Red Headed Woodpeckers are solitary birds except during the mating season (NatureWorks). Breeding primarily occurs in the northern parts of their ranges (Xeno-canto). Red Heads are usually monogamous, although sometimes polygyny can occur. Some pairs are known to have mated together over several  seasons.

Their nests are located in tree cavities. Nest cavities are excavated using their beaks. They can nest in natural holes or man-made holes but prefer to dig out their natural cavities in dead trees. Both genders work on the nest, but the male does most of the drilling. The Cavity is 20 to 60cm deep, the entrance is 5 to 6 cm in diameter (Axley). The density of nest cavities is determined by the density of trees, snaps, and underbrush (Sedgwick).

Eggs are laid in the months of April and July. Incubation begins after the last egg is laid (Axley). Eggs are white in color (Audubon). Five eggs is the average number laid per season. Both of the parents incubate the eggs, and the male usually does so at night. When the chicks hatch they are naked, and their eyes don’t open for 12 to 13 days after hatching. The chicks are fed and brooded by both parents. Nestlings leave the nest at 24 to 3 days old. Chicks can catch their own food soon after fledging. They get chased away by their parents after several weeks, and the chicks can then breed the next summer. A breeding pair can have one or two broods a year, and they might start a second nest attempt while still feeding the first brood. The second brood can even be raised in the same nest as the first, although usually a new nest is found (Axley).

Red Headed Woodpecker’s breeding season starts in May.  For breeding pairs to have a good chance to have a successful clutch, they need to avoid competition with European starlings. In 42 out of 68 interactions between starlings and red headed woodpeckers  the red heads were the aggressors (Ingold, Nesting Phenology). Occasionally Red-headed Woodpeckers, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, European Starlings, all compete for nest cavities. This means that nesting cavities are a contested resource. Almost always, Starlings got to the nest sites first and started egg laying in old woodpecker cavities, even before Red Headed Woodpeckers have arrived from their spring migration. Red Headed Woodpeckers usually did not excavate a new nest cavity, and Red Headed Woodpeckers and Starlings might nest simultaneously in same tree. Red bellied woodpeckers, though, rarely nested in a tree with either of the other species.

Interactions were uncommon when birds did nest in the same tree. Once Starlings established their nests they didn’t seek out newer nest cavities. When there was an abundance of cavities, there were fewer competitive interactions. Red bellied Woodpeckers and Redheaded Woodpeckers have responded to each other by evolving nest site preferences that minimize competition (Ingold, Simultaneous). They minimized their competition with each other in several ways. Red headed Woodpeckers prefer to nest in dead tree trunks (Reller) that is primarily caused by heartwood decay (Daily) while Red Bellied Woodpeckers prefer dead tree limbs. Red headed Woodpeckers also prefer to nest 20 meters or less high off the ground (much higher than the Red Bellied Woodpeckers). Red Headed Woodpecker aggression decreases in the winter because they establish their own territories and there are fewer woodpeckers were in the area (Reller).

It is unusual for woodpeckers to store food for use during periods of time of low food supply, but the Red Headed Woodpecker will often do so. The Red Headed Woodpeckers actually store away more food that they can eat! Even when food is abundant, they still gather and store food. The woodpecker can remember where these stores of food are located during times of food shortages and thus demonstrates a very high level of intelligence (Hay). Woodpeckers have a diet that consists of insects, larvae, spiders, acorns, beechnuts, corn, tree sap, wild and cultivated fruits, berries, rarely eggs, and rarely nestlings of small birds (Red-headed Woodpecker). Red heads are in turn preyed upon by hawks, falcons, owls, red foxes, snakes, raccoons, and flying squirrels (Axely).

General References:
Axley, Elizabeth J. “Melanerpes Erythrocephalus.” Animal Diversity Web. University of Michigan, 2002. Web. 02 Oct. 2016.

“Red-headed Woodpecker.” Audubon. National Audubon Society, 01 Mar. 2016. Web. 02 Oct. 2016.

“Red-headed Woodpecker.” Peterson Field Guides. Houghton Mifflin Books, 2009. Web. 02 Oct. 2016.

“Red-headed Woodpecker.” Life History, All About Birds. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 2015. Web. 02 Oct. 2016.

“Red-headed Woodpecker(Melanerpes Erythrocephalus).” ARKive. Wildscreen, n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2016.

“Red-headed Woodpecker-Melanerpes Erythrocephalus.” NatureWorks. New Hampshire Public Television, 2016. Web. 02 Oct. 2016.

“Red-headed Woodpecker(Melanerpes Erythrocephalus).” Red-headed Woodpecker(Melanerpes Erythrocephalus)- Photos, Facts, and ID Tips. Nature of New England, 2001. Web. 02 Oct. 2016.

“Red-headed Woodpecker.” Oiseaux-birds. National Geographic, n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2016.

“Red-Headed Woodpecker.” What Bird. Percevia, 2012. Web. 2 Oct. 2016.

“Red-Headed Woodpecker.” Xeno-canto. Naturalis Biodiversity Center, 2005. Web. 2 Oct. 2016.

Scientific References:
Daily, Gretchen C. “Heartwood Decay and Vertical Distribution of Red-Naped Sapsucker Nest Cavities.” Wilson Ornithological Society. Vol. 105. No.4.:674-679, 1993. Web. Jstor. 4 Oct. 2016.

“Habitat Use of Breeding Red-headed Woodpeckers on Golf Courses in Ohio.” Wildlife Society Bulletin. Vol. 34.:448-453, 2006.Web. 4 Oct. 2016

Hay, O. P. “The Red-Headed Woodpecker a Hoarder.” American Ornithologists’ Union. Vol. 4. No.3.:193- 196, 1887. Web. Jstor. 4 Oct. 2016.

Ingold, Danny J. “Nesting Phenology and Competition for Nest Sites among Red-Headed and Red-Bellied Woodpeckers and European Starlings.” American Ornithologists’ Union. Vol. 106. No. 2.:209- 217,1989. Web. Jstor. 4 Oct. 2016.

Ingold, Danny J. “Simultaneous Use Of Nest Trees By Breeding Red-Headed And Red-Bellied Woodpeckers And European Starlings’,” The Cooper Ornithological Society, 1990. Web. Sora. 4 Oct. 2016

Kilham, Lawrence. “Territorial Behavior of Wintering Red-Headed Woodpeckers.” Wilson Bulletin. Vol. 70. No.4.: 347-358, 1958.Web.Jstor. 4 Oct. 2016.

”Red-headed Woodpecker.” Hartford: Connecticut Dept. of Environmental Protection, Wildlife Division, 1997. Atlas of Climate Change Effects in 150 Bird Species of the Eastern United States. Web. 4 Oct. 2016.

Reller, Ann Wilburn. “Aspects of Behavioral Ecology of Red-Headed and Red-Bellied Woodpeckers.” American Midland Naturalist Journal. Vol. 88. No. 2.: 270-290, 1972. Web. Jstor. 4 Oct. 2016.

Sedgwick, James A., and Fritz L. Knopf. “Habitat Relationships and Nest Site Characteristics of Cavity- Nesting Birds in Cottonwood Floodplains.” The Journal of Wildlife Management. Vol. 54. No. 1.:

Spring, Lowell W. “Climbing and Pecking Adaptations in Some North American Woodpeckers.” The Condor. Vol. 67. No.6.: 457-488, 1965. Web. Jstor. 4 Oct. 2016.

Picture References:
Flickr. Yaho.2009. Web. 25 September, 2016
< https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Melanerpes_erythrocephalus_-tree_trunk-USA.jpg>
(use via Creative Commons)
1.)Red-headed woodpecker on tree trunk (Colleen) (Creative Commons)

Wikipedia. Wiki. 2006. Web. 25 September, 2016
< https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Red_Headed_Woodpecker5.JPG>
(use via public domain)
1.)Red- headed woodpecker (ownwork) (public domain)