Woodpeckers are a vast bird family, composed of approximately 217 species worldwide. They are found throughout the Americas, Eurasia, and Africa, with the largest number of species occurring in the tropics of the New World. Here are a few woodpecker species you may encounter, along with some of the more unique members of the woodpecker family.
Red-headed woodpecker
The Red-headed Woodpecker is known for its fiery red-head and black and white body. It resides predominately in the Midwest and East Coast of America, occasionally drifting westward during the summer. It breeds in woodlands, orchards, parks, forest edges and swamps.
The red-headed woodpecker is one of the most aggressive members of the woodpecker family. Not only will it attack …show more content…
It has a brown face and neck with a black and white back.
The Gila woodpecker excavates a hole in a saguaro cactus to form a nest. After it pecks the hole, it will wait months for the pulp of the cactus to dry before occupying the cactus. The Gila woodpecker feeds off insects, fruit, seeds and the occasional lizard.
The Ivory-billed Woodpecker
Is the ivory-billed woodpecker extinct? That's a question naturalists have been trying to answer for the last decade. This woodpecker, which is the third largest in the world, resided in the old-growth forests of the American Southeast and was decimated by forest cutting that occurred in 1800s.
It was though to be extinct by the middle of the twentieth century, but was allegedly discovered in 2005 in Arkansas. A number of recent expeditions in Arkansas and Louisiana in search of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker have come up empty. It is also possible that the species may exist in southeastern Cuba, where it was last sighted in 1986.
The Ivory-billed Woodpecker is present in a number of ancient native American archaeological sites, suggesting that it was used as ceremonial
Red-headed woodpecker
The Red-headed Woodpecker is known for its fiery red-head and black and white body. It resides predominately in the Midwest and East Coast of America, occasionally drifting westward during the summer. It breeds in woodlands, orchards, parks, forest edges and swamps.
The red-headed woodpecker is one of the most aggressive members of the woodpecker family. Not only will it attack …show more content…
It has a brown face and neck with a black and white back.
The Gila woodpecker excavates a hole in a saguaro cactus to form a nest. After it pecks the hole, it will wait months for the pulp of the cactus to dry before occupying the cactus. The Gila woodpecker feeds off insects, fruit, seeds and the occasional lizard.
The Ivory-billed Woodpecker
Is the ivory-billed woodpecker extinct? That's a question naturalists have been trying to answer for the last decade. This woodpecker, which is the third largest in the world, resided in the old-growth forests of the American Southeast and was decimated by forest cutting that occurred in 1800s.
It was though to be extinct by the middle of the twentieth century, but was allegedly discovered in 2005 in Arkansas. A number of recent expeditions in Arkansas and Louisiana in search of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker have come up empty. It is also possible that the species may exist in southeastern Cuba, where it was last sighted in 1986.
The Ivory-billed Woodpecker is present in a number of ancient native American archaeological sites, suggesting that it was used as ceremonial