Red-bellied Woodpecker Melanerpes carolinus Scientific name definitions

Conspicuous and pugnacious, the Red-bellied Woodpecker is common throughout the eastern United States and especially ubiquitous in the southeastern coastal plain, including Florida. In the early 1900s, the species began to expand its range northward and westward, and vagrants have been found as far west as eastern Oregon. The Red-bellied Woodpecker’s broad diet and general habitat requirements (1 Koenig, W. D., A. M. Liebhold, D. N. Bonter, W. M. Hochachka, and J. L. Dickinson. (2013). Effects of the emerald ash borer invasion on four species of birds. Biological Invasions 15:2095-2103. Close ), its use of bird feeders (2 Meade, G. M. (1988d). "Red-bellied Woodpecker." In The atlas of breeding birds of New York State., edited by R. F. Andrle and J. R. Carroll, 228-229. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Univ. Press. Close , 3 Jackson, J. A., and W. E. Davis. (1998). Range expansion of the Red-bellied Woodpecker. Bird Observer 26:4-12. Close ), and its response to tree planting (4 Arnold, K. A. (2001). Red-bellied Woodpecker. The Texas Breeding Bird Atlas. Texas A&M University System, College Station and Corpus Christi, Texas. Close ) and climate change (5 Zuckerberg, B., A. M. Woods, and W. F. Porter (2009). Poleward shifts in breeding bird distributions in New York State. Global Change Biology 15:1866-1883. Close , 6 Kirchman, J. J. and K. J. Schneider (2014). Range expansion and the breakdown of Bergmann’s Rule in Red-bellied Woodpeckers (Melanerpes carolinus). Wilson Journal of Ornithology 126:236-248. Close ) are contributing to its range expansion. Most populations are resident year-round, although individuals occupying northern areas may retreat south during cold winters (7 Short, L. L. (1982). Woodpeckers of the World. Monograph Series 4, Delaware Museum of Natural History, Greenville, DE, USA. Close ).

A habitat generalist extraordinaire, the Red-bellied Woodpecker uses a wide range of habitats ranging from tropical hammocks and mangroves to northern deciduous forests, from forested wetlands to xeric pine forests, and both undisturbed and human modified landscapes, including urban areas. It seldom excavates for insects—instead, it forages opportunistically for a wide range of food items depending on the season, including fruit, hard mast, seeds, arboreal arthropods, and small vertebrates. Unlike other more specialized members of its genus, the Red-bellied Woodpecker caches food items less frequently and only rarely catches insects on the wing. Its skull morphology is more similar to other zebra-backed woodpeckers, formerly in the genus Centurus, than Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus), Acorn Woodpecker (M. formicivorus), or Lewis’s Woodpecker (M. lewis) (8 Leonard, D. L., Jr., and J. A. Heath (2010). Foraging strategies are related to skull morphology and life history traits of Melanerpes woodpeckers. Journal of Ornithology 151:771-777. DOI 10.1007/s10336-010-0509-9. Close ).

The Red-bellied Woodpecker consumes a wide variety of fruit (9 Skeate, S. T. (1987). Interactions between birds and fruits in a northern Florida hammock community. Ecology 68:297-309. Close ) and its affinity for fruit crops, particularly oranges, is reflected by colloquial names such as the “orange borer” and “orange sapsucker.” Another common colloquial name is “red-headed woodpecker” by virtue of the male’s prominent red crown and nape.

Cavities excavated by the Red-bellied Woodpecker in dead or dying wood provide shelter and nest sites for a variety of other vertebrate species. At the same time, the Red-bellied Woodpecker is a well-known predator on the eggs and nestlings of a variety of open-cup and cavity nesting birds (10 Hazler, K. R., D. E. W. Drumtra, M. R. Marshall, R. J. Cooper, and P. B. Hamel (2004). Common, but commonly overlooked: Red-bellied Woodpeckers as songbird nest predators. Southeastern Naturalist 3:467-474. Close ). Like other generalist species that benefit from human alteration of natural habitats, the Red-bellied Woodpecker may compete with species of management concern. For example, the Red-bellied Woodpecker commonly displaces Red-cockaded Woodpecker (Dryobates borealis) from foraging locations (11 Bowman, R., Leonard, D. L., Jr., L. K. Backus, and A. R. Mains (1999a). Interspecific interactions with foraging Red-cockaded Woodpeckers in south-central Florida. Wilson Bulletin 111:346-353. Close ) and can aggressively compete with that species for breeding and roosting cavities (12 Ligon, J. D. (1971c). "Some factors influencing numbers of the Red-cockaded Woodpecker." In The ecology and management of the Red-cockaded Woodpecker., edited by R. L. Thompson, 30-43. Tallahassee, FL: Bureau of Sport Fish. and Wildl. Tall Timbers Res. Stn. Close , 13 Kappes, J. J., Jr., and L. D. Harris (1995). Interspecific competition for Red-cockaded Woodpecker cavities in the Apalachicola National Forest. In Red-cockaded Woodpecker: Recovery, Ecology and Management (D. L. Kulhavy, R. G. Hooper, and R. Costa, Editors), Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX, USA. pp. 389–393. Close , 14 Kappes, J. J., Jr. (1997). Defining cavity-associated interactions between Red-cockaded Woodpeckers and other cavity-dependent species: Interspecific competition or cavity kleptoparasitism? Auk 114:778-780. Close ).

Many aspects of the life history of the Red-bellied Woodpecker have been well studied, though nutrition, physiology, and seasonal movements remain little studied.