Melanerpes erythrocephalus
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
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.
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 Picus capite toto rubro. In 1758, the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae to its tenth edition. He included the red-headed woodpecker and coined... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Congaree National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Point Pelee National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 3 | Death Valley National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Badlands National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Shenandoah National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Riding Mountain National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 7 | Great Smoky Mountains National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Rocky Mountain National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Calgary | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 3 | Washington | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Baltimore | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Houston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | New York City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Minneapolis [Saint Paul] | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Detroit | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Orlando | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ralph Perkins II Wildlife Center and Woods Garden | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Red-headed Woodpecker sighting in Badlands National Park on a given day, based on 55 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 48th most-seen of the 120 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Red-headed Woodpecker in Badlands National Park on a given day, against under 5% in June–July and October–April, the lowest months. That is one of Badlands National Park's wettest months, with about 80 mm of rain against 15 mm in January.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Red-headed Woodpecker sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 9
Of the 9 parks where we can rate Red-headed Woodpecker sightings, Badlands National Park ranks 4th at about 10%. The best odds are in Congaree National Park (United States, about 40%), Point Pelee National Park (Canada, about 20%) and Death Valley National Park (United States, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Red-headed Woodpecker is recorded against all the birds logged in Badlands National Park (55 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
