A Beautiful Redhead

 By Matt White

Some birds are designed to blend into their environment—not so the Red-headed Woodpecker. A study in red, white and black, it will grab attention, as any marketer who knows the power of those three colors will tell you. The Red-headed Woodpecker sports a head so lipstick red, Marilyn Monroe would be impressed. It is a bird not to be missed. But it is a bird that more often than not is a victim of identity theft.

Let me explain. When I was in college I met a girl and on the first day we ever met, she noticed a woodpecker on a telephone pole on campus as we were walking to our cars. Not knowing any better, and not yet comprehending my interest in birds, she casually mentioned that the bird was a Red-headed Woodpecker. It was not.

Now consider my dilemma. Should I have said, “Wow, how interesting?” and left it at that, or should I have attempted to correct the mistake? Actually, the bird was a Red-bellied Woodpecker and since they are much more common than the genuine article the difference was important, and I just couldn’t help setting the record straight.  “Actually,” I remember telling her, “that bird is really a…”

Still, most folks call them Red-headed Woodpeckers (even though the head is more orange than red). Red bellied Woodpeckers are named for their supposed red belly—yet this feature is seldom seen because the belly is normally kept pressed against the tree—but even the belly is scarlet, not red.). If you are confused, it is understandable. Bird names are often confusing.

I had been birding for several months before I saw my first bona-fide Red-headed Woodpecker. I don’t remember now where I was when I saw my first one, but I never grow tired of watching them. A consumer of acorns, they thrive in oak trees, but are sometimes found in mixed pine oak woodlands. Like other members of the woodpecker clan, they have strong pneumatic bills that literally allow them to drill into the soft tissue of dead or dying wood to excavate a cavity suitable for laying eggs and raising a family.

So it goes without saying that they need dead trees. Where there are a few dead trees around, they can be locally common, but more often than not, they are absent. Although it is tempting to suggest that this is because most folks eliminate their dead trees, I suspect this is not the only reason. For a variety of reasons, Red-headed Woodpeckers are just not as pedestrian as some other birds. Their imposter, on the other hand, is quite widespread, and is even common in cities and towns—even college campuses.

Sometimes during the winter, when the acorn crop up north fails, they move south in really, really large numbers. When that happens they can turn up anywhere. In town, in pecan trees, anywhere there is something to eat.  One of the best places to see them in our area year ‘round is at Dogwood Park, on the southern side of Lake Cypress Springs. There is a magic tree behind the restrooms that host this special bird. It was a crisp autumn day recently when I visited the park and found a very cooperative Red-headed Woodpecker.  I was actually looking for the Brown-headed Nuthatches that like this special tree, but I found another really neat bird there instead. 

For years I have tried to get good photographs of the Red-headed Woodpecker.  Always it seemed that if I had a camera with me they would never allow me to approach within 100 yards.  But this bird just sat there, looking this way and that while I took frame after frame.  I approached closer and closer.  Soon I was so close to the bird that it seemed huge in the viewfinder.  Still the bird never flew away. 

And neither did the girl.  When we can grab a few hours away from the kids we still love to go out and look for birds together.  I guess you could say we have been birding together from day one.  Oh yeah, and when the light hits it just right, you can see hints for red in her hair too.