Found throughout southern Canada and the eastern two-thirds of the U.S., red-headed woodpeckers favor open woodlands. While often seen on farmlands, orchards and rural parks, these attractive birds are especially common on floodplains and in the backwater areas of our larger lakes and reservoirs; there they find stands of dead trees in which they prefer to nest. Once abandoned, their nesting cavities are used by tree swallows, bluebirds, prothonotary warblers and starlings.
Easily recognized by their bright, red head and large white wing patches, these woodpeckers have a varied diet. While feasting on bark insects like most of their cousins, red heads also "flycatch" from fence posts or dead snags, generally pursuing larger insects such as mayflies, damselflies and cicadas. And, like flickers, they often feed on the ground, consuming ants, beetles, grasshoppers, nuts and fallen fruit. Finally, like their western cousin, the acorn woodpecker, these versatile birds cache acorns and beechnuts in tree cavities or crevices, a ready supply for the leaner months.
Permanent residents throughout most of their range, red heads that inhabit southern Canada and the western High Plains tend to move south and eastward for the colder months. As a result, they are often more common in Midwestern and southern swamplands during the winter, where their striking plumage contrasts with the bleak, gray landscape.
