How many woodpeckers are there

This gives them added stability and strength when drumming for insects, peeling bark away to feed, or when drilling nesting cavities. Their tail feathers are often pointed and the tail has a forked appearance that can be useful for identifying woodpeckers.

The hairy woodpecker Picoides villosus is almost indistinguishable from its downy woodpecker cousin, but hairy woodpeckers are larger and their bills are longer. To tell the differences between downy woodpeckers and hairy woodpeckers , look carefully at the bill size in proportion to the head. For hairy woodpeckers, the bill is longer than half the width of the head, while for downy woodpeckers, it is shorter than half the width. Some male hairy woodpeckers have a faint wash of color along the crown of the head instead of a brighter spot at the back of the head.

This can make them difficult to distinguish from three-toed woodpeckers, but hairy woodpeckers have whiter sides and a greater number of white wing spots. The bold red, white, and blue-black coloration makes the red-headed woodpecker Melanerpes erythrocephalus hard to miss.

The white wing patches are especially prominent in flight, and the bright red color not only covers the entire head but the throat as well. Juvenile birds have dark brown heads that gradually turn red with maturity during their first winter. These woodpeckers are fairly common in the eastern United States year-round. The pileated woodpecker Dryocopus pileatus is the largest woodpecker in North America, reaching up to 18 inches in length.

These birds are easily identified by their size and their preferred habitat with large, sturdy trees that can support their exuberant drilling. More common in the eastern United States, pileated woodpeckers can be found in many northwestern forests as well.

While both male and female birds have red, moderately crested heads with bold white markings, the male birds also have a splash of red along their cheek stripe.

Northern flickers Colaptes auratus are buff or tan woodpeckers commonly found feeding on ants and other insects on the ground. They are common throughout the United States and Canada, but different populations have different colors. Eastern birds usually display yellow or gold markings in the wings and under the tail during flight, while western birds have reddish or cinnamon markings.

The dark bib and underpart spotting is prominent on both male and female birds, though only the male birds have the facial mustache. One of their ways of achieving these goals, is by purchasing and leasing lands around already protected lands and creating larger safe zones for all its habitants.

This site allows users to sign up and participate in recording birds seen on a daily basis as well as the location, for any bird species seen in the world. In addition, users can use the existing data to search out the location of bird species throughout the year. By using filters, information as to the movements can be determined.

Photos can be added to identify individual birds. Migration pattern can be calculated using information by months or years as needed. Range maps can be verified, allowing the users to see where the presence of individual bird species are expected to be at certain times of the year. NA - National Geographic The Society of National Geographic provides some of the best books available for those who have an interest in birds.

The book called "The Complete Birds of North America", is a book recommended to be part of any birders library. This book covers all the native and vagrant species of birds seen on the North American Continent.

It provides information on all the birds listed on the ABA bird list. This book goes into great details, describing the individual species and their races. That aside, their website provides wonderful information pertaining to many articles regarding nature. It was initially formed for the preservation of egrets and herons as well as waders, who were being hunted and killed, so their feathers could be used in the clothing industry.

Today, there are many chapters of the NAS all over the continent and all individual groups have a common goal, to educate the public. In doing so, creating awareness of the birds and their plights. They were the driving force in promoting the original international laws, protecting migratory birds. Today, their website has made information available on articles, images and sounds, relating to all the native birds seen in North America.

I hope you will take advantage of these suggested websites. I have used each of them, in one way or another, throughout the years in my quest to better identify and understand our fine feathered friends. To attract Northern Flickers, you may have better luck installing an appropriately sized nestbox or ensuring your backyard has many native plants, which attract insect species.

There are no other woodpecker species that will make you stop in your tracks quite like a Pileated Woodpecker. These birds are HUGE, and adults can be up to 19 inches 48 cm long and have a wingspan of 30 inches 99 cm!

For reference, this is about the size of a crow. In addition to their large size, these birds are mostly black but with white stripes on their face and neck. Look for a large triangle red crest on the top of their heads.

Males have a red stripe on their cheek, where the stripe is black on females. Pileated Woodpeckers are common in the United States in large, mature forests with lots of dead and fallen trees. They rely on rotting wood consisting of ants, wood-boring beetles, and termites to find food. Although they will supplement their diet with fruits and nuts. These birds are quite vocal, and you should have no problem hearing one.

Just to warn you, Northern Flickers sound incredibly similar! You can also identify a Pileated Woodpecker by its drumming , which consists of 10 — 30 taps delivered in less than a second. Drumming is used year-round by both sexes to defend or establish territory, attract mates, or to warn of intruders.

They are most often seen dining on suet. The above video was taken from my bird feeding station! I think they are absolutely gorgeous with their black and white barred backs. Most of the red on these birds is on their head. In fact, the red coloring is actually the only way to tell males and females apart!

Males have a bright red plumage that extends from their beaks to the back of their necks, while females only have red on the back of their necks. I see them almost daily in my backyard. They love eating peanuts, sunflower seeds, and suet which is especially popular during the winter months. Interestingly, it has been determined that these woodpeckers are one of the most dominant birds on backyard feeders. They rarely back down from any other bird.

I can attest to this fact, as I commonly see them fending off numerous starlings at a time by aggressively trying to stab these invasive birds with their beak!

Another great way to find this woodpecker is to learn its calls! Like most other woodpeckers, Red-bellied Woodpeckers have a long tongue that can extend nearly two inches past its beak!

To fit this long tongue inside their head, it wraps up and around the back of their head! Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers have a black and white backside and a large white shoulder patch. Look for their distinctive red crown and black and white striped face. As the name suggests, most individuals have a yellowish-white belly. The only way to tell males and females apart is by the color of their throat. Males have a red throat, while females are white! This migratory woodpecker is found in the eastern United States in young deciduous forests.

They need habitats that feature lots of growing trees, which are perfect for creating productive sap wells. While Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers have been documented drilling into over 1, different tree species, their favorites seem to be maples and birches. As the name suggests, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers rely heavily on tree sap as a high energy food. These birds drill holes, which are neatly organized into rows see picture above , into living trees.

These holes become sap wells, which slowly leak sap that is eagerly eaten. Sap wells are even important to hummingbirds! Some Ruby-throated Hummingbirds time their migration north each spring to correlate with Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers. The sugary sap ensures that hummingbirds have a food source since not many flowers are blooming yet! This bird gets my vote for the best-looking woodpecker in the United States! Red-headed Woodpeckers are characterized by a large red head and a bill that is larger than most other species.

Their back is entirely black, except for white wing patches, which contrasts against the pure white belly. The main culprit is habitat loss due to the destruction of giant beech forests, which produce beechnuts, one of their favorite foods. Simultaneously, almost every American Chestnut tree in the country was destroyed due to a fungal disease called chestnut blight.

And for aesthetic reasons, most people cut down dead trees, which these woodpeckers rely upon for nesting cavities. Red-headed Woodpeckers are one of the only woodpecker species known to store food.

They will hide nuts, seeds, or insects under bark, in fence posts, or even wedged under roof shingles. If you happen to find yourself in the correct habitat of these birds, then make sure to listen for them!

Only the males have an extremely tiny , almost invisible red spot located behind their eyes. In addition to white cheeks, the rest of the body features black and white bars, stripes, and spots. Although once widespread, Red-cockaded Woodpeckers are now hard to find in the United States.

Identifying markings Yellow-bellied : Black and white above, white wing patch. Red-breasted : Far western coast of Canada and the U. They drill rows of regularly spaced vertical and horizontal holes in the trunk of a tree.

When the sap leaks out they will lick it up. The sap can also attract insects which then may become caught in the sap — once incapacitated the woodpeckers can easily gobble them up.

Downy Woodpecker Size: inches the smallest of the North American woodpeckers. Diet: Wood-boring insects, berries and seeds. Habitat: Open woodlands, orchards and parks. Location: Across the majority of the U. Whenever I have moved and put my feeders up, they are always one of the first species to show up.

They are also often caught drinking hummingbird nectar out of hummingbird feeders. Downy Woodpeckers do drill into trees like other woodpeckers but primarily like to pick insects and larvae out of the crevices in bark.

Hairy Woodpecker Size: 8. Diet: Wood-boring insects, berries, seeds. Habitat: Mature forests, orchards, parks. Nesting: eggs on bed of wood chips in tree cavity. They can be distinguished by their larger overall size and also noticeably longer bill. It has been noted that sometimes they will follow the Pileated Woodpeckers, waiting for them to finish drilling a hole and once the Pileated leaves they will investigate and forage for insects the Pileated may have missed.

Habitat: Open pine woodlands, groves and areas with scattered trees. Location: Western U. Nesting: eggs, cavity in dead branch or stump. They have a graceful and steady flight pattern, not undulating as in other woodpeckers.

They are social woodpeckers and can often be found in family groups. His is the first written account of this bird, documenting it on their famous journey across the western United States in To find out more, visit this article on lewis-clark.

Acorn Woodpecker Size: Diet: Insects, fruit, acorns. Habitat: Oak woodlands, groves and forested canyons. Location: West coast U. Nesting: eggs laid in a cavity, dead oak or other trees. Interesting facts about Acorn Woodpeckers Acorn woodpeckers live in colonies from birds. They work as a group to collect and store acorns, their winter food staple. Enough acorns are stashed away to feed the group for several months.

They drill tiny holes in a tree trunk then stuff the acorn into the opening. This spirit of cooperation extends to nesting, where all members of the group will take turns incubating eggs and feeding the young. Acorns cached in a dead tree Gila Woodpecker Size: Diet: Insects, fruit, seeds, lizards. Habitat: Deserts with large cacti, dry subtropical forests, woodlands. Location: Southern Arizona into north eastern Mexico.

Nesting: eggs cactus or tree cavity. This gives the inner pulp time to dry and creates solid, firm walls within the cavity. However their numbers are still high enough that they are not yet listed as a bird of concern. Human development of the Sonoran Desert is reducing their habitat. Also, the non-native European starlings aggressively compete with them for nesting cavities.

Three Toed Woodpecker Size: Diet: Wood-boring insects, spiders, berries. Habitat: Coniferous forests. Nesting: eggs in tree cavity, uses wood chips or fibers for lining.

Interesting Facts about Three-toed Woodpeckers The three-toed woodpecker breeds farther north upper Canada into Alaska than any other woodpecker. Most woodpeckers have four twos — two pointing forwards and two backwards. However as its name suggests, this woodpecker only has three toes and they all point forwards. Instead of doing heavy drilling into trees to find their food, they prefer to flake off the bark with their bills.

Typically stick exclusively to dead or dying trees. Black-backed Woodpecker Size: 9. Diet: Wood-boring insects spiders and berries. Nesting: cavity, rarely above 15 ft off the ground. Interesting facts about Black-backed Woodpeckers These woodpeckers have a lot of similarities with the three-toed.

They too, have only three front facing toes. They also prefer to flake bark off of trees rather than drill. They move from spot to spot following outbreaks of wood-boring beetles in recently fire damaged habitats. They will travel far south of their normal range, into the United States, if there is either a decline in their preferred food source, or an overabundance which causes a population boom and the need to find territory.

Golden-fronted Woodpecker Size: 8.