The temperature was hovering just below freezing and I was going on my sixth hour of sitting in my four foot by four foot nylon blind waiting. This is when this job gets a little mind numbing. I was waiting to photograph an elusive bird when I realized a question kept running through my head over and over–when is a woodpecker not a woodpecker? I answered myself–when it is a Red-headed Woodpecker. Perfect theme for this week’s column. So here it goes.

As far as a species goes, I think the Red-headed Woodpecker is the woodpecker most unlike other woodpeckers. Let me explain.

Lately I have been concentrating my photographic efforts on a specific species–the Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus). This means I spend day after day sitting in my blind watching and waiting for the woodpeckers to come close enough to photograph. It allows me endless hours to watch their every movement and interaction. At night I spend time researching and reading what others have observed about the species. I also read all the research papers that have been published about the species. The next day I go back and sit and watch and wait some more. (Of one interesting note, this specie is one of the least studied woodpeckers in North America.)

I find several things most intriguing. When compared to other species of woodpecker the Red-headed Woodpecker is very unique, for example, one of the first things I noticed is when the Red-head lands on a small branch or twig it lands perpendicular to the branch. All other woodpeckers will land parallel to the branch. So in other words they perch more like a song bird than a woodpecker.

When feeding during winter, Red-heads prefer to feed on the ground hopping around like a robin. They are only one of three species of woodpecker that feeds on the ground. During fall and winter their preferred food sources are nuts such as acorns and hickory nuts. In fact they are dependent upon these foods. So much so they gather large quantities of the nuts and store them for later consumption. Red-headed Woodpeckers are only one of four species of woodpecker that will store food for later consumption. Keep in mind there are nearly 200 species of woodpecker in the world and only four of them store food. This is a very unusual behavior.

During the summer the redhead changes their diet to mostly flying insects. In much the same way a flycatcher feeds the Red-headed Woodpecker will sit on a branch, perpendicular, and will wait for a winged insect to fly by and sallies forth to grab its meal. They will also drop to the ground to grab grasshoppers and other large ground dwelling insects. Redheads are also one of the most omnivorous species of woodpecker, eating the eggs of other birds, baby birds and even small mammals such as mice if they find them dead.

Unlike most woodpecker species, Red-headed Woodpeckers are monomorphic, which means the males and females look exactly the same. In fact even researchers who have the birds in their hands can’t tell them apart. This is one of the large stumbling blocks to studying this species. Nearly all other species of woodpecker show some difference between the sexes.

The population of the Red-headed Woodpecker has fluctuated greatly over the past 200 years. Early European settlers in North American found this bird in great abundance. In the 1840’s, John James Audubon wrote, “I would not recommend to anyone to trust their fruit to the Red-heads for they not only feed on all kinds as they ripen, but destroy an immense quantity besides.” Starting in the early 1900’s the Red-headed Woodpecker numbers started to drop dramatically. Estimates based on some bird surveys indicated that more than a 50 percent drop in Red-headed Woodpecker populations over the past 100 years. At this rate of decrease we may be looking at the extinction of this stunning species in the next 50 years. Until next time…