Red-headed Woodpecker
Photo: Mdf · CC BY-SA 3.0

Woodpeckers

Red-headed Woodpecker

Melanerpes erythrocephalus

LCLeast Concern
Family
Woodpeckers (Picidae)
Order
Piciformes

Overview

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.
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.

Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Range and habitat

Eastern North America from southern Canada to Gulf of Mexico and Florida.

Range description: AviList Global Avian Checklist.

Sources and further reading

Last updated September 29, 2026.