Bird of the Month: Red-bellied Woodpecker
Male Red-bellied Woodpecker. Photo by Jeff Bryant.
By Roger Digges, CCAS Vice-President
I could have picked any month to focus on this bird, because it’s a common bird that lives in our area year-round. However, it’s not a bird that most people are familiar with, as they might be with Northern Cardinals or Blue Jays, and being a woodland bird, it’s easier to see when the leaves have fallen. One of six members of the woodpecker family that call Champaign County home (a seventh, the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, visits us only during colder months), the Red-bellied Woodpecker can be found wherever there are enough trees to provide it food, shelter, and nest sites.
As with most birds, you will likely hear the red-bellied before you see it. It may repeat a loud rolling querrrrr, or a sharp pik. If you’re uncertain about what you hear, again I would recommend downloading the free Merlin app. While it isn’t always accurate (but is more than 90% of the time), it nails the Red-bellied Woodpecker’s call. If you’re walking through a woodland or a wooded neighborhood, keep your eyes open for a medium-sized bird (between the size of a robin and a crow) that may be clinging to the side of the trunk or large branch of a tree.
The red-bellied has horizontal black and white stripes on its back and a light-colored front, which can range from gray to almost peach-colored. Females have a red cap, which extends from the nape of their neck to the top of their heads. Males also have a red cap that covers their heads from the nape of their necks to their foreheads, often to their beaks.
So why are they called red-bellied? If they happen to be hanging upside down, you may glimpse what the 26 January 2024 BirdNote podcast episode calls “a slight blush of rose on its lower belly.” If you’re trying to identify this bird, look for the red cap and the black and white horizontal stripes. They’re much easier to see!
Where can you find a Red-bellied Woodpecker? Visit any wooded natural area east of the Great Plains. But you don’t have to go far. They can be found at any of our own local forest preserves and parks any time of the year. Or, if there are a lot of mature trees in your neighborhood, take a walk. If you have such trees in or near your yard, you can attract red-bellieds to your yard by not cutting down dead trees or snags (assuming they’re not a hazard) and/or by putting up feeders. I’ve found that Red-bellied Woodpeckers like suet and black oil sunflower seeds (and also peanuts). I don’t see them much in the warmer months, but in winter, when food is scarce, they are frequent visitors.
If you have or are close to the right habitat, a nesting pair may decide to raise their young nearby. They will be looking for dead trees, live trees with large dead branches, or wooden fence posts. While they tend to use the same location from one year to the next, both birds will work together each year to excavate a new nesting hole. The female red-bellied lays 2–6 eggs on a bed of wood chips left over from their excavating. Both male and female incubate the eggs and feed the young after they’ve hatched.
How are Red-bellied Woodpeckers doing? Surprisingly well. Their population has grown by nearly 50% over the past half century. Today there are about 16 million Red-bellied Woodpeckers in the eastern half of the United States. Even so, we need to continue to provide possible nesting sites for all cavity-nesting birds, because many are in need of them.