Red-Headed Woodpecker by Michigan Nut Photography

MSU Extension’s Michigan Natural Features Inventory lists the Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) as a species of special concern and says Red-headed woodpeckers are residents of open woodlands with widely spaced mature trees. This species typically avoids closed-canopy forest. An original inhabitant of oak and oak-pine savanna systems, red-headed woodpeckers will readily utilize golf courses, country parks, recently burned woodlands, open floodplain forest, and even rural yards with suitable nesting trees.

All About Birds has all kinds of photos & bird calls and shares that the Red-headed Woodpecker is so boldly patterned it’s been called a “flying checkerboard,” with an entirely crimson head, a snow-white body, and half white, half inky black wings. They add some interesting facts:

• These birds don’t act quite like most other woodpeckers: they’re adept at catching insects in the air, and they eat lots of acorns and beech nuts, often hiding away extra food in tree crevices for later. This magnificent species has declined severely in the past half-century because of habitat loss and changes to its food supply.
• The Red-headed Woodpecker is one of only four North American woodpeckers known to store food, and it is the only one known to cover the stored food with wood or bark. It hides insects and seeds in cracks in wood, under bark, in fenceposts, and under roof shingles. Grasshoppers are regularly stored alive, but wedged into crevices so tightly that they cannot escape.
• The striking Red-headed Woodpecker has earned a place in human culture. Cherokee Indians used the species as a war symbol, and it makes an appearance in Longfellow’s epic poem The Song of Hiawatha, telling how a grateful Hiawatha gave the bird its red head in thanks for its service.
• The oldest Red-headed Woodpecker on record was banded in 1926 in Michigan and lived to be at least 9 years, 11 months old.
• The Red-headed Woodpecker has many nicknames, including half-a-shirt, shirt-tail bird, jellycoat, flag bird, and the flying checker-board.

John captured this chonky Jellycoat in Montcalm County. Follow Michigan Nut Photography on Facebook and for sure visit the Birds & Wildlife gallery on his website to view & purchase many more amazing pics!