Red-cockaded Woodpecker (Picoides borealis)

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A Field Guide to Eastern Birds. by Roger Tory Peterson.

Return to Eastern Woodpeckers

Color Photograph: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Color Photograph: U.S. Army

Red-cockaded Woodpecker (Picoides borealis)

Identification: Length from tip of bill to tip of tail 8 inches. Crown and nape of the neck black, the black extending around the front of the eye and in a thin line to the lower margin of the crown. Male with a small, rarely seen red spot behind the eye. Side of the head white. Throat white. Back with a ladderlike arrangement of black and white stripes. Wings black, completely spotted with white. Breast and abdomen white, spotted with black.

Similar Species:  The Hairy Woodpecker and the Downy Woodpecker have white backs. Both species have a large red patch in males (but not females). The male Red-cockaded Woodpecker has a most a small red spot behind the eye. The Black-backed Woodpecker has a black back without ladderlike white stripes. The Three-toed Woodpecker does have a ladderlike striped back. However the white spotting of the wing is restricted to the apical half of the wing and the black markings on the sides of the breast and abdomen are stripes, not spots. The side of the head of the Three-toed Woodpecker is largely black with a thin, white stripe through the eye.

Breeding Range (see map below): The Red-cockaded is a rare species resident in the southeastern United States from Virginia in the north to northern Florida in the south, westward to Oklahoma and eastern Texas.

Overwintering Range:  See above.

Habitat: The Red-cockaded Woodpecker is found in mature southeastern pine forests, particularly Yellow Pine and Longleaf Pine.

Food: Insects.

Behavior: This species is rare and local and is confined to mature pine forests. The Red-cockaded Woodpecker needs old or dead trees to construct its tree holes. The bird travels in family flocks of 4 to 6 individuals.

Reproduction:  The clutch consists of 4 white eggs laid in a tree cavity.

Note: Logging of mature pine forests in the southwestern United States is one major cause for the endangerment of this species.