Red-headed woodpecker
Red-headed woodpecker | |
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At a bird feeder in Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Piciformes |
Family: | Picidae |
Genus: | Melanerpes |
Species: | M. erythrocephalus
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Binomial name | |
Melanerpes erythrocephalus | |
Approximate distribution map
Breeding
Year-round
Nonbreeding
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Synonyms | |
Picus erythrocephalus Linnaeus, 1758 |
The red-headed woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) is a mid-sized
The red-headed woodpecker should not be confused with the red-bellied woodpecker, which is similar in size but has a vibrant orange-red crown and nape; the red-bellied woodpecker is named for the pale reddish blush of its lower belly and has a distinctly patterned black and white back rather than the solid black one of the red-headed woodpecker.
Taxonomy
The English naturalist
Description
Adults are distinctly tricolored, with a black back and tail, a white belly and rump, and a red head and neck. The wings are black with white secondary
These are mid-sized woodpeckers. Both sexes measure from 19 to 25 cm (7.5 to 9.8 in) in length, with a wingspan of 42.5 cm (16.7 in).[10][11] They weigh from 56 to 97 g (2.0 to 3.4 oz), with an average of 76 g (2.7 oz).[12] Each wing measures 12.7–15 cm (5.0–5.9 in); the tail measures 6.6–8.5 cm (2.6–3.3 in), the bill measures 2.1–3 cm (0.83–1.18 in) and the tarsus measures 1.9–2.5 cm (0.75–0.98 in).[13] The maximum longevity in the wild is 9.9 years.[12]
This species gives a tchur-tchur
Behavior
The red-headed woodpecker is omnivorous, eating insects, seeds, fruits, berries, nuts, and occasionally small rodents―even the eggs of other birds.[9] About two-thirds of its diet consists of plants.[9] Red-headed woodpeckers keep food caches.[14] This behavior is only seen in three other species of woodpeckers: the acorn woodpecker, the downy woodpecker, and the red-bellied woodpecker.[14] They have been known to stuff food in tree cavities, crevices, and under tree bark.[14] This keeps them well fed throughout the year.[14]
During the breeding season, a mature male red-headed woodpecker will establish a
Status
The red-headed woodpecker was returned to a designation of
Increased habitat management is claimed to have helped in part in stabilizing its numbers, leading to its down-listing.[2]
The red-headed woodpecker was historically a common species in southern Canada and the east-central United States. Consistent long-term population declines have resulted in red-headed woodpecker's threatened status in Canada and several states in the US. Throughout most of its range, it inhabits areas that have been heavily altered by humans. Factors attributed to the red-headed woodpecker's decline include loss of overall habitat and, within habitats, loss of standing dead wood required for nest sites,[22] limitations in food supply,[23] and possible nest-site competition with other cavity nesters such as European starlings or red-bellied woodpeckers.[24][25]
Of the 600 Canadian Important Bird Areas, only seven report the red-headed woodpecker in their area: Cabot Head, Ontario, on the Georgian Bay side of the tip of Bruce Peninsula; Carden Plain, Ontario, east of Lake Simcoe; Long Point Peninsula and Marshes, Ontario, along Lake Erie near London, Ontario; Point Abino, Ontario, on Lake Erie near Niagara Falls; Port Franks Forested Dunes, Ontario, northeast of Sarnia on Lake Huron; Kinosota/Leifur, Manitoba, on the northwest side of Lake Manitoba south of The Narrows and east of Riding Mountain National Park; and along the South Saskatchewan River from Empress, Alberta to Lancer Ferry in Saskatchewan.[26]
Popular culture
In 1996, the
References
- ^ . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- ^ a b BirdLife International. "Red List: Northern Bald Ibis, Pink Pigeon making a comeback". BirdLife. Retrieved 2018-11-23.
- ^ Catesby, Mark (1729–1732). The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands. Vol. 1. London: W. Innys and R. Manby. p. 20, Plate 20.
- ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 113.
- ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
- ^ Peters, James Lee, ed. (1948). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 6. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 158.
- ^ Swainson, William John (1831). Richardson, John (ed.). Fauna boreali-americana, or, The zoology of the northern parts of British America : containing descriptions of the objects of natural history collected on the late northern land expeditions under command of Captain Sir John Franklin, R.N.: Part 2, The Birds. p. 316. The title page gives the date as 1831 but the volume was not actually published until the following year.
- ^ Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (2020). "Woodpeckers". IOC World Bird List Version 10.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8078-5671-0.
- ^ Red-headed Woodpecker. All About Birds.
- ^ Red-headed woodpecker. biokids.umich.edu
- ^ .
- ISBN 978-0-395-72043-1
- ^ a b c d e f g "Red-headed Woodpecker". American Bird Conservancy. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Red-headed Woodpecker". Audubon. 2014-11-13. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
- ^ a b c d e f Axley, Elizabeth J. "Melanerpes erythrocephalus (red-headed woodpecker)". Animal Diversity Web. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
- ^ a b "Creature Feature: The Striking Red-headed Woodpecker". Forest Preserve District of Will County. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
- Wilson Bulletin. 18 (2): 47–60.
- ^ Ohio Ornithological Society (2004): Annotated Ohio state checklist Archived 2004-07-18 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ "Red-headed Woodpecker Melanerpes erythrocephalus BBS Trend Map, 1966 - 2015". Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. USGS. Retrieved 2019-05-24.
- ^ "The Red-headed Woodpecker Doesn't Make Sense". Audubon. 2017-10-13. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
- ^ Smith, K. G., J. H. Withgott, and P. G. Rodewald. (2000). Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus). The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online, Ithaca.
- ^ Ontario Partners in Flight. (2008). Ontario Landbird Conservation Plan: Lower Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Plain, North American Bird Conservation Region 13. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Bird Studies Canada, Environmental Canada. Draft Version 2.0.
- ^ Ingold, D. J. (1989). "Nesting phenology and competition for nest sites among Red-headed and Red-bellied Woodpeckers and European Starlings". Auk. 106: 209–217.
- ^ Ingold, D. J. (1994). "Influence of nest-site competition between European Starlings and woodpeckers". Wilson Bulletin. 106: 227–241.
- ^ Important Bird Area Canada, Site Catalogue Query
- ^ "America's 1996 Stamps Program (1996)". Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2006-01-31.
- ^ USA Philatelic (2006). "Red-headed Woodpecker". USA Philatelic. 11 (1): 31.
Further reading
- BirdHouses101.com (2007): Red-headed Woodpecker. Version of 2007-SEP-30. Retrieved 2008-FEB-14.
External links
- Red-headed Woodpecker - Melanerpes erythrocephalus - USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
- The Nature Conservancy's Species Profile: Red-headed Woodpecker
- Red-headed Woodpecker Species Account – Cornell Lab of Ornithology
- Red-headed Woodpecker Recovery
- Enature.com – Red-headed Woodpecker
- A video of the Red Headed Woodpecker - YouTube
- "Red-headed Woodpecker media". Internet Bird Collection.
- Red-headed Woodpecker photo gallery at VIREO (Drexel University)