Red-headed Woodpecker
Melanerpes erythrocephalus
Summary 4
Red-headed Woodpeckers are uncommon year-round at the Arboretum, usually seen in spring and summer. These medium-sized woodpeckers are unusual because they are nomadic. In spring, they travel to find stands of dead trees for nesting and foraging. In fall, they travel to find large crops of acorns and other nuts. They prefer to live in open woodland and savanna. Unfortunately this type of habitat is declining and so Red-headed Woodpecker populations have dropped by nearly 70% since the 1970s. The Arboretum has exactly the mixture of dead trees, acorns, and savanna habitat that these woodpeckers need, so we usually see at least one nesting pair in the savanna every year.
Sources and Credits
- (c) Greg Lasley, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Greg Lasley
- (c) Victor Fazio, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://www.flickr.com/photos/victor_fazio-iii/3232796657/
- (c) Mary Keim, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://www.flickr.com/photos/38514062@N03/46216885134/
- Adapted by hancnaturalist from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanerpes_erythrocephalus
