Melanerpes erythrocephalus
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
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 |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Red-headed Woodpecker sighting in Baltimore on a given day, based on 188 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 150th most-seen of the 246 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Red-headed Woodpecker in Baltimore on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
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 17
Of the 17 cities where we can rate Red-headed Woodpecker sightings, Baltimore ranks 4th at under 5%. The best odds are in Chicago (United States, about 10%), Calgary (Canada, under 5%) and Washington (United States, under 5%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Red-headed Woodpecker is recorded against all the birds logged in Baltimore (188 verified sightings), 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.
