There are many varieties of woodpeckers all across North America. While there are common characteristics the birds of the woodpecker family share, each species can be quite unique! They range from small to large and plain to colorful. Some live in forests while others live in the desert. A versatile family of birds, and one of my personal favorites!
Woodpeckers are known for their powerful beaks, long tongues, sometimes flashy colors, and their excellent climbing skills. There are over 200 types of woodpeckers in the world and 23 species in North America. It’s those North American woodpeckers that we’ll be looking at in this article. Some are quite common, others are more rare, and one is likely extinct.
In the below list of North American woodpeckers we’ll look at pictures, species information, how to identify them, and give you some interesting facts about each one. We hope you enjoy our article and find the species you’re looking for!
1. Red-headed Woodpecker
- Scientific name: Melanerpes erythrocephalus
- Size: 7-9 inches
- Location: Eastern half of the US although much less common in New England.
- Nesting: 4-7 eggs, inside cavities in dead trees or dead branches.
Adults have a bright crimson head, black back, large white wing patches and a white belly. These large patches of solid color are unlike most woodpeckers, who have more intricate patterns.
Red-headed woodpeckers eat wood-boring insects and nuts which they are known to cache in the fall. Unlike many woodpeckers they spend time perching and flying out to catch insects in-flight.
They have even been found storing insects like grasshoppers in cracks of wood and under roof shingles! They prefer open woodlands, pine plantations, standing wood in beaver swamps, river bottoms, orchards, and swamps.
