Melanerpes erythrocephalus
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
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 Riding Mountain National Park on a given day, based on 31 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 142nd most-seen of the 181 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Red-headed Woodpecker in Riding Mountain National Park on a given day, against under 5% in July to May, the lowest months. That is one of Riding Mountain National Park's wettest months, with about 100 mm of rain against 20 mm in February.
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.
6th of 9
Of the 9 parks where we can rate Red-headed Woodpecker sightings, Riding Mountain National Park ranks 6th at under 5%. 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%).
Same family: Picidae
The closest relatives of the Red-headed Woodpecker that you can see in Riding Mountain National Park (family Picidae, Woodpeckers) are Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (about 40%), Hairy Woodpecker (about 30%) and Northern Flicker (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Red-headed Woodpecker is recorded against all the birds logged in Riding Mountain National Park (31 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.
