“Come look at this woodpecker at the feeder,” my wife Nancy called to me last week.
“What about it,” I replied, fully expecting it to be a red-bellied or maybe a pileated woodpecker.
But when I glanced out the window, I was stunned. It was a genuine Red-headed woodpecker, the first I can ever recall seeing in our yard.
There are many types of woodpeckers and most have red or at least some red feathers on their heads, but the Red-headed woodpecker is the only one to have an entirely red head. When you see one, you’ll know it. They have ivory white and jet black bodies and a deeply colored red head, similar in color to a cardinal.
The Audubon Society says that while once these striking birds were very common, they no longer are. Their numbers are declining and that trend is continuing.
No one is quite sure why, but it may have to do with heavy forestation and the destruction of many hollow trees as well as the influx of starlings, which compete with the woodpeckers for nesting habitat.
We have a number of old and decaying trees in our yard and I had hoped a pair of Red-headed woodies would pick a nesting site, but we haven’t seen them since.
Red-headed woodpeckers are about the size of a blue jay. They feed on insects and are sometimes struck by automobiles as the birds swoop down in traffic to catch a fluttering bug. They also eat nuts and fruits and will come to feeders and suet. The feeder our Red-headed friend chose was filled with sunflower hearts, and as I advise my fellow birders, if you really want to attract bluebirds and all sorts of other interesting birds, keep those feeders packed with sunflower hearts or chips.
Mine is and here’s hoping my red-headed friend returns. What a magnificent creature!