Red-cockaded woodpecker

The Red-cockaded Woodpecker's most distinguishing feature is a black cap and nape that encircle large white cheek patches. Rarely visible, except perhaps during the breeding season and periods of territorial defense, the male has a small red streak on each side of its black cap called a cockade, hence its name. The Red-cockaded Woodpecker feeds primarily on ants, beetles, cockroaches, caterpillars, wood-boring insects, and spiders, and occasionally fruit and berries.

The Red-cockaded woodpecker is classified as Vulnerable (VU), considered to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild.

The Red-cockaded Woodpecker's most distinguishing feature is a black cap and nape that encircle large white cheek patches. Rarely visible, except perhaps during the breeding season and periods of territorial defense, the male has a small red streak on each side of its black cap called a cockade, hence its name. The Red-cockaded Woodpecker feeds primarily on ants, beetles, cockroaches, caterpillars, wood-boring insects, and spiders, and occasionally fruit and berries. More

The red-cockaded woodpecker is a very social species that lives in extended family groups including one breeding pair, their offspring from recent nesting efforts, and males from earlier nesting efforts. The group forages over an area averaging about 200 acres (80 ha) in good habitat and more than 1,000 acres (400 ha) in poor habitat. Cavities are in living pines, usually below the lowest branch, in trees infected with the red-heart fungus. More

HABITAT: The red-cockaded woodpecker makes its home in mature pine forests. Longleaf pines (Pinus palustris) are most commonly preferred, but other species of southern pine are also acceptable. While other woodpeckers bore out cavities in dead trees where the wood is rotten and soft, the red-cockaded woodpecker is the only one which excavates cavities exclusively in living pine trees. Cavities are excavated in mature pines, generally over 80 years old. More

A rare bird, the red-cockaded woodpecker lives only in mature pine forests in the American southeast. Like most woodpeckers, it pecks on wood, but its tastes are somewhat more specific than most varieties. It seeks out only living pines with red heart disease, a fungus that affects the tree’s heartwood, in which it excavates nesting holes, drilling smaller holes to drain pitch. Groups usually breed in loose colonies in stands of tall pines, reusing their nests from year to year. More

Status:The red-cockaded woodpecker was Federally listed as Endangered on October 13, 1970. Its decline is attributed primarily to the reduction of pine forest with trees 8O years old and older and to the encroachment of hardwood midstory due to fire supression. Description: The red-cockaded woodpecker is approximately seven inches long, with a wing span of about 15 inches. There are black and white horizontal stripes on its back, and its cheeks and underparts are white. Its flanks are black streaked. More

The red-cockaded woodpecker is a good example of the effects of forest fragmentation. The preferred pine-wiregrass savannah habitat of the red-cockaded woodpecker was once widely distributed across the southeastern United States. However, fire management, deforestation, forestry practice, and other changes in land use have reduced and fragmented this once common and relatively contiguous ecosystem type. Consequently, remaining populations of the once abundant and widespread red-cockaded woodpecker are fragmented, small, and isolated. More

Red-cockaded Woodpecker is a bird of mature southern pine forests. Its preference for longleaf pine and the destruction of that habitat have resulted in the woodpecker becoming an endangered species. More

Red-cockaded Woodpeckers sleep (roost) and nest in cavities (holes) of live pine trees. Cavities are built only in large, old pines. These woodpeckers live in family groups which may include the male and female, their chicks, and young adult "helpers". These "helpers", typically related young from previous nesting seasons, help build cavities and care for the future chicks. Pecking a cavity in a live tree takes a long time, since the wood is very hard. More

The Red-cockaded Woodpecker has a small range, confined to the southeastern portion of the United States. This bird prefers temperate forest ecosystems, though it can live on arable land or in rural gardens. The global population of this bird is estimated at only 11,000 individuals and shows significant signs of decline that necessitate inclusion on the IUCN Red List. For this reason, the current evaluation status of the Red-cockaded Woodpecker is Vulnerable. More

Red-cockaded Woodpeckers sleep (roost) and nest in cavities (holes) of live pine trees. Cavities are built only in large, old pines. These woodpeckers live in family groups which may include the male and female, their chicks, and young adult "helpers". More

A map of sightings of the red-cockaded woodpecker in the U.S.A. is in the external links below. Sighting maps of individual states, counties etc. can also be generated at this site. In Texas, red-cockaded woodpeckers can be seen at W.G. Jones State Forest and Sam Houston National Forest. (see external link below) Habitat Male at nest cavity in Longleaf Pine The Red-cockaded Woodpecker makes its home in mature pine forests. More

Red-Cockaded Woodpecker Translocation Video SCIENTIFIC NAME: Picoides borealis DESCRIPTION: The red-cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis) is about seven inches long with a wingspan of about 15 inches. It is approximately the same size as a cardinal. It has black and white bars arranged on the feathers across the back. The most distinguishing features are the large white cheek patches that are surrounded by the black cap and nape. More

The Red-cockaded Woodpecker is unique in that there are usually up to nine birds from previous hatchings that help in raising the newborn chicks that are hatched from three or four white eggs in 10 to 12 days. The groups from previous hatchings are called helpers. They prefer to nest and roost in old and big live pine trees and are about 8 inches long. The red cockade behind the eye is barely visible. It is only on the male woodpecker. More

red-cockaded woodpeckers can still be found are on military bases. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has prepared a recovery plan for the red-cockaded woodpecker (USFWS 1985) that proposes criteria for delisting the species. Among those criteria is the establishment of at least 15 viable populations across the species' range. Although it is not clear that this set of 15+ populations would meet all the criteria of a metapopulation (Levins 1969, 1970; Hanski et al. More

much of the southeastern coastal plain, the red-cockaded woodpecker is now a federally listed endangered species. Today, the birds’ preferred habitat - the longleaf pine ecosystem - has been eliminated from 97 percent of the lands it once occupied. While many species of woodpeckers are found in pine forests, the red-cockaded woodpecker is unusual in two ways. First, it is the only woodpecker that excavates cavities in the living part of pine trees. More

The Red-cockaded woodpecker is medium-sized, (20-23 cm), black with white striping and large white patches on either side of the head. The underside is white with black speckles. This type of woodpecker is named for the small patched of red the adult males have back behind the eyes on either side. More

Red-cockaded Woodpecker (RCW) is an endangered species that lives in mature pine forests from Florida to Virginia and west to ty southeast Oklahoma and eastern Texas. From the late 1800s to the mid 1900s, the Red-cockaded Woodpecker rapidly declined as its mature pine forest habitat was altered for a variety of uses, primarily timber harvest and agriculture. Our analysis involved assessing the effect of a timber harvest plan on the viability of a RCW population in Louisiana. More

Male red-cockaded woodpecker at nest hole Male red-cockaded woodpecker at nest holePrint factsheet Facts - Kingdom Animalia Phylum Chordata Class Aves Order Piciformes Family Picidae Genus Picoides (1) Size Length: 22 cm (2) More