thumb|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.

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.

Taxonomy

The English naturalist Mark Catesby described and illustrated the red-headed woodpecker in his book The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, which was published between 1729 and 1732. Catesby used the English name "The Red-headed Wood-pecker" and the Latin . In 1758, the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae to its tenth edition. He included the red-headed woodpecker and coined the binomial name Picus erythrocephalus, citing Catesby's book. The specific epithet combines the Classical Greek , , meaning "red", and κεφαλή, kephalos meaning "headed". The type locality is South Carolina. The red-headed woodpecker is one of 24 species now placed in the genus Melanerpes, which was introduced by the English ornithologist William Swainson in 1832 specifically to accommodate the red-headed woodpecker. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognized. Juveniles have similar markings, but their heads are grey. They weigh from , with an average of . The maximum longevity in the wild is 9.9 years.

This species gives a tchur-tchur call or a drum on its territory.

Behavior

<!--thumb|left|The the Red-headed woodpecker uses the [[cork oak's soft bark to store acorns]] ***This claim is dubious, as the cork oak is limited to Spain and the Mediterranean coast, while the Red-headed woodpecker is exclusively a bird of eastern and central North America.*** -->

Food and feeding

The red-headed woodpecker is omnivorous, eating insects, seeds, fruits, berries, nuts, and occasionally small rodents―even the eggs of other birds. Once the male has paired with a female, the relationship is believed to be mostly monogamous, and that they will remain paired for multiple breeding seasons. It is uncertain whether these relationships are truly monogamous as there have been reports of polygyny. They have been known to destroy nests and eggs of other birds in their territory. Most of the decline in red-headed Woodpeckers can be attributed to loss of habitat and the competition for nesting cavities with the invasive European starling.

<!-- Note that this date period (1966-2015) and its claim (that there was consistent deterioration of species numbers throughout) is inconsistent with the bird being reclassified from near threatened back to least concern in 2018. Reclassified after just three years of reverse following 40 years of decline? Something is inconsistent or inaccurate or both here. Also, the date ranges do not correspond, as the classification downgrade was in 2004 (after "40 years of decline") while the data supporting decline specifies a 40 year-period from 1966 to 2105.-->Increased habitat management is claimed to have helped in part in stabilizing its numbers, leading to its down-listing. limitations in food supply, and possible nest-site competition with other cavity nesters such as European starlings or red-bellied woodpeckers.

==Popular culture==<!-- If you remove this, then don't forget to remove the references in the reflist -->

In 1996, the United States Postal Service issued a 2-cent postage stamp depicting a perched red-headed woodpecker.

  • Red-headed Woodpecker - Melanerpes erythrocephalus - USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
  • The Nature Conservancy's Species Profile: Red-headed Woodpecker
  • Red-headed Woodpecker Species Account – Cornell Lab of Ornithology
  • Red-headed Woodpecker Recovery
  • Enature.com – Red-headed Woodpecker
  • A video of the Red Headed Woodpecker - YouTube