Red-bellied Woodpecker Family

The woodpecker family contains many beautiful birds of varying sizes. One of the most common woodpeckers in our neck of the woods is the medium sized Red-bellied Woodpecker. These colorful birds are permanent residents so we enjoy seeing them all year long. We are lucky to have several breeding pairs in our habitat. Some of them have become quite used to us and have brought their young to the feeding station nearby, allowing us to get some good photos of the whole family and giving us some insight into the habits and family life of the wonderful and intelligent birds.

Female Red-bellied Woodpecker     Male Red-bellied Woodpecker

• Medium to large-sized woodpecker.
• Red hood from top of head to back of neck.
• Back barred black and white.
• Size: 24 cm (9 in)
• Wingspan: 33-42 cm (13-17 in)
• Weight: 56-91 g (1.98-3.21 ounces)

The male has a red hood extending to the forehead. The female has a red nape only. The male Red-bellied Woodpecker has a longer bill and a longer, wider tongue tip than the female. These adaptations may allow the male to reach deeper into furrows to extract prey and may allow the sexes to divide up the resources in one area.

The Red-bellied Woodpecker inhabits forests, groves, orchards, farmland and suburbs. According to Sibley, "Woodpeckers tend to be habitat specialists; as such, they are to some extent at risk of extinction when their habitat is threatened." Breeding Bird Survey data reports show that while other woodpecker numbers have dropped, Red-bellied Woodpecker numbers are increasing. We have certainly seen an increase in numbers of all of the six species of woodpeckers that inhabit our habitat in Southeastern Louisiana, mainly because of the extraordinarily large numbers of dead and decaying pine trees that were left after Hurricane Katrina tore a path of destruction through our area. There were so many trees down that we couldn't move them all without destroying what was left of the under story. So today a wide variety of birds and animals take advantage of the "Katrina log" feeders that we made from the debris.

Red-bellieds eat a variety of insects, invertebrates, fruit and seeds. Animal food includes: beetles (including wood-boring larvae), ants and other Hymenoptera, grasshoppers, crickets, caterpillars and bugs. There are also records of these woodpeckers feeding upon vertebrates such as small tree frogs and lizards. Plant food includes: Oak, Grape, Corn, Mulberry, Virginia-creeper, Cherry, Pine, Poison-ivy, Bayberry, Hickory, Dogwood, Beech, Hazelnut, Black Gum, Elderberry and Palmetto. (Martin, Zim and Nelson, American Wildlife & Plants A Guide to Wildlife Food Habits.)

Many woodpeckers stash or store food in the cracks and crevices in trees and Red-bellied woodpeckers are one that does, but this species does not appear to defend these stashes against mammals or other birds. They also use holes in trees to anchor a tough seed or nut so that it can be broken open. We were able to capture a male Red-bellied "teaching" one of his young ones just how to do this.

Like most woodpeckers, Red-bellied woodpeckers are monogamous and territorial. Woodpeckers are cavity nesters who drill out a new nesting cavity each year. Red-bellieds will also nest in birdhouses, but don't do so often. We have seen them roost in a Bluebird size nest box that they enlarged the hole in. They often have a cavity for breeding in the spring and another one that they drill out in the fall for roosting. It usually takes about 2 weeks to excavate the cavity.

The hole of the nest cavity usually faces north here in the hot, humid south so that the nest will not become overheated by the afternoon sun. The nesting cavity consists of a narrow (just wide enough for the woodpecker) horizontal entrance to a larger vertical cavity where the 2-6 (usually 4) white eggs are laid on a bed of wood chips.

Sharp-shinned-Hawk by WildThings

The predators of the adult birds include many birds of prey like Sharp-shinned and Cooper's hawks, Rat Snakes and house Cats. Imported European Starlings often try to take over nesting cavities. In some areas, half of all Red-bellied Woodpecker nesting cavities are taken over by starlings. Other predators of the nestlings and eggs include rat snakes, red-headed woodpeckers and pileated woodpeckers. Old woodpecker cavities (and sometimes the new ones) are used by a variety of creatures including flying squirrels and bluebirds.

I couldn't write a lens about a Louisiana woodpecker without mentioning the Ivory-billed. There have been two possible sightings of this rare and unique bird. One sighting was in the Pearl River Swamp area, which is not very far from where we live. (We can only hope!) The other was in a large, almost pristine forest in North Louisiana in Tensas Parish. And the search goes on.