Can a bird be inspirational? Adult Red-headed Woodpeckers are so striking that the sight of one motivated Alexander Wilson, the author and illustrator of the early 1800s, nine-volume work American Ornithology, to become an ornithologist.
The gorgeous Red-headed Woodpecker is so boldly patterned it’s been called a “flying checkerboard,” with its entirely crimson head, a snow-white body, and half white, half inky black wings.
Adult males and females are impossible to tell apart in the field. Immature birds have a buff-brown or “dusky” head and back.
These birds don’t act quite like most other woodpeckers. Red-headed Woodpeckers are less likely to drill for food than other species. Instead, they fly down to the ground to capture insects or they catch prey from the air.
They also eat lots of acorns and beech nuts, often hiding away extra food in tree crevices for later. They have been known to wedge live beetles or grasshoppers into cracks in wood to store them for future use.
The Red-headed Woodpecker has declined severely in the past half-century because of habitat loss and changes to its food supply. It can be found open woodlands and forest edges and clearings, river bottoms and wooded swamps. It especially likes areas with dead or dying trees.
This year was my first year to have seen these magnificant birds and I’ve been lucky enough to find them several different times throughout the year in different locations.
