Red-headed woodpecker

Red-headed woodpecker
At a bird feeder in Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Piciformes
Family: Picidae
Genus: Melanerpes
Species:
M. erythrocephalus
Binomial name
Melanerpes erythrocephalus
Approximate distribution map
  Breeding
  Year-round
  Nonbreeding
Synonyms

Picus erythrocephalus Linnaeus, 1758

Adult males and females are identical in size and plumage

The red-headed woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) is a mid-sized woodpecker found in temperate North America. Its breeding habitat is open country across southern Canada and the east-central United States. It is rated as least concern on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)'s Red List of Endangered species, having been down-listed from near threatened in 2018.[2]

The red-headed woodpecker should not be confused with the red-bellied woodpecker, which is similar in size but has a vibrant orange-red crown and nape; the red-bellied woodpecker is named for the pale reddish blush of its lower belly and has a distinctly patterned black and white back rather than the solid black one of the red-headed woodpecker.

  1. ^ BirdLife International (2018). "Melanerpes erythrocephalus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018: e.T22680810A131390783. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22680810A131390783.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ^ BirdLife International. "Red List: Northern Bald Ibis, Pink Pigeon making a comeback". BirdLife. Retrieved 2018-11-23.