Red-headed Woodpecker
It's
called the Melanerpes erythrocephalus, but for everyday
purposes, it's known as the red-headed woodpecker. Fanciers of
this interesting Oklahoma bird can see them all winter in parts
of the state and during the summer statewide.
As the name implies, adults have bright red heads, necks and
upper breasts, but immature birds have buff-brown heads and
necks. Its back is entirely black with contrasting white plumage
on the chest, belly and rump. The wings are also black with a
bold contrasting white patch.
Red-headed woodpeckers typically forage alone or in small
groups. In the winter they are often found in nut-bearing trees
suck as oaks and hickories across southern Canada and the
eastern-central United States, including Oklahoma. The number of
red-headed woodpeckers that winter in Oklahoma varies greatly
depending upon acorn production and weather. In late summer
month, this species can be found statewide.
This attractive woodpecker feed on seeds, nuts, fruits and
insects, such as grasshoppers and others. Acorns are important
part of their diet and can affect the abundance of red-headed
woodpeckers in years of poor mast crops. On the other hand,
years with good mast production tens to show better numbers of
birds. Acorns and other foods are often stashed or "cached" in
tree cavities. May to July encompasses the nesting season for
red-headed woodpeckers, when they inhabit open areas broken up
by mature trees. They also can be seen along creek and river
bottoms.
Females often nest in dead trees about two feet deep on beds of
wood chips. They lay about five eggs which the male helps
incubate. It is believed that eggs are incubated for about two
weeks and the young stay within the nest for about a month.
Red-headed woodpeckers are one of 11 woodpecker species found in
Oklahoma and one of 25 found in North America. Though
woodpeckers are one of the easiest families of birds to identify
and though woodpeckers are quire common in Oklahoma some species
can be difficult to distinguish from others. IN the case of the
red-headed woodpecker, it may be confused with red-bellied
woodpeckers, also found in Oklahoma. However, the red-bellied
woodpeckers lack the bold white breast, wing and rump plumage of
the red headed woodpecker.
Birds like the red-headed woodpecker and other woodpeckers are
count annually in the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife
Conservation's Winter Bird Feeder Survey. In 2007, nearly 1,700
woodpeckers were counted in the survey, 104 of which were
red-headed woodpeckers.