Wildlife Watching Wednesday: The Red-Headed Woodpecker

By: Tom Berg

Woodpeckers are one of our most recognizable wild birds. They easily cling to the vertical trunks of trees as they hammer away at the hard wood with their sharp beaks, searching for tasty insects to eat. The rhythmic drumming sound of a woodpecker is unmistakable in our woods and back yards.

There are many different species of woodpeckers, of course, and one of the most beautiful and interesting is the red-headed woodpecker. This medium-sized bird is slightly larger than a robin, and unlike some woodpeckers which just have a small red patch on their heads, these birds have bright red feathers covering their entire heads. They also have a white breast and a black back, with large white patches on their otherwise black wings.

Red-headed woodpeckers inhabit most of the central and eastern United States, and during the summer many breeding pairs head north as far as southern Manitoba and southern Saskatchewan in Canada. They also fly west to nest in states like Nebraska, the Dakotas, and even as far west as eastern Montana.

Red-headed woodpeckers eat plenty of insects like moths, ants, beetles and grasshoppers, but they also eat seeds and nuts like acorns, beechnuts and corn kernels. Fruit makes up another large part of their diet, and they consume plenty of berries like raspberries, mulberries, blackberries and even poison ivy berries. They also eat other fruits such as grapes, cherries, chokecherries and apples, just to name a few.

Surprisingly, red-headed woodpeckers are excellent flycatchers. If they spot a nearby flying insect they can easily fly out from their perch and grab it in mid-air. They are also one of the few woodpeckers that store their food and come back to eat it later. Nuts and seeds are often hidden in the nooks and crannies between tree bark, but these crafty woodpeckers also store live insects like grasshoppers in those small crevices. The live insects are wedged-in so tightly that they cannot escape!

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