Red-bellied Woodpeckers -BOG

Red-bellied Woodpecker /M. carolinus

Order:Piciformes Family:Picidae Genus:Melanerpes



General Characteristics:
-Light cream to pink chest and belly, barred black and white wings and back, reddish markings around its bill and a red crown. The male has red on the crown and on the nape of his neck. The female has red just on the nape of her neck.

-Red-bellied woodpeckers tap their bills together when they are courting.
The nest cavity is built by both the male and the female. The cavity is lined with wood chips and is about a foot deep. It is usually built in a dead or dying tree.
The female lays three to eight eggs and both the male and female incubate the eggs and care for the young. The male incubates at night. The chicks hatch in about three weeks and they fledge in about a month. The chicks usually stay with their parents until the fall.

Special Adaptations:

The red-bellied woodpecker eats beetles, grasshoppers, ants and other insects. It also eats acorns, beechnuts and fruits. It uses its bill to probe for insects in trees and tree stumps. The red-bellied woodpecker sometimes stores food in a tree cavity. In the winter, the red-bellied woodpecker's diet is mostly seeds and it can often be found at birdfeeders.