The Red-headed Woodpecker

Historically, red-headed woodpeckers depended on woodlands with openings and savannas for habitat: They still do. However, most of us don’t appreciate the role a century of central and northern Illinois prairie-placed farms played in the lives of red-headed woodpeckers.

Initially in Illinois, settlers began establishing farmsteads on the edges of prairie groves, cutting some trees for openings where outbuildings and homes could be built. Red-headed woodpeckers found these more open areas to their liking, albeit close to humans. When farmsteads eventually moved out on the open prairie, red-heads followed. Why? The nature of many of these prairie farmsteads mimicked savannas. Even though they were unintentional or unplanned as such, their very structure was “savanna-like.” Tree-lined borders of several rows of deciduous trees, such as silver maple, black walnut, white ash, and even cottonwood, were often established to break prairie winds and provide nuts. Even some Osage orange hedgerows bordered farmsteads. Family orchards of mostly apple, pear, and sometimes peach, were an early addition. Elm, hackberry, and box elder were planted in the farmstead to give shade to livestock as well as the family.

Settlers who longed for the Old Country planted conifers, usually Scotch and Austrian pine, or Norway spruce. Trees were even planted to “showcase” farmsteads: Rows of deciduous trees lined the lanes leading from the country roads to homes. Trees provided aesthetic relief to the often treeless prairie landscape.

From the 1850s on, Osage orange hedgerows were established, sometimes on more than one side of a 40-acre field to protect the prairie soil from erosion and provide a living fence that was “pig tight and bull strong.” Additionally, these hedges connected farms and farmsteads to the benefit of wildlife. Walking along a quarter mile of Osage orange hedge was a treat, flushing out red-headed woodpeckers, mockingbirds and even an occasional loggerhead shrike—the infamous “butcher bird.” These three would expose their distinctive wing patterns in flight, only to alight a little farther down the line, repeating the performance again and again until they ran out of hedge.

Most 640-acre sections of prairie farmland had at least four farmsteads. Most had trees of some sort: Some had a lot and became virtual hot-beds of red-head activity, with cavities excavated and broods raised. Farm families were familiar with the red-headed woodpecker sighting it almost daily along the hedgerow and within the farmstead itself.

The nature of these early prairie farmsteads endured well into the 20th century, but times began to change. By the 1960s, the trend toward bigger farms began accelerating at a rapid pace. Farmsteads were demolished, Osage orange hedgerows were bulldozed, piled and burned. The surviving farmsteads were “cleaned up.” Along with the demise of many farmsteads, the red-headed woodpecker left most of the prairie farms of Illinois.

On prairie farmsteads with some semblance to a savanna, if they are close to a prairie grove and have a hedgerow to connect them to the past, an occasional red-headed woodpecker can be encountered. While not an exact facsimile of a savanna, for the red-headed woodpecker, these farmsteads functioned as such none-the-less.

The often aggressive and noisy red-headed woodpecker can be particularly feisty when sparring over a nest cavity with a red-bellied woodpecker or a European starling. Red-headed woodpeckers like to nest in holes they excavate in tree trunks and utility poles. To the dismay and disbelief of birders who establish and maintain a trail of Eastern bluebird boxes, red-heads sometimes enlarge the entrance holes in the boxes and nest there. Frequently, the entrance hole is enlarged much more than needed. On occasion, the front of the box is almost destroyed. In the nest cavity, red-headed woodpeckers do not construct a nest of twigs, leaves, or grass, but merely lay three to six eggs on the floor of the cavity.

In summer, red-headed woodpeckers feed mostly on insects such as beetles and flying insects. In winter, they collect, store, and consume acorns, and scavenge for waste corn from farm fields. They frequent bird feeders year-round, liking small black sunflower seeds and suet. Here again, their nature comes to the forefront. Using their bills to lead the attack, red-heads chase other birds off of and away from platform feeders.

Red-headed woodpeckers do migrate, but not far. For example, birds that occupy central Illinois during summer may winter in southern Illinois. Also, some evidence suggests that red-heads shift habitats over the year. Occupying open, upland wooded habitats during the spring, summer and fall, in winter birds may move into more protected, close-by bottomland forests along rivers.

This seasonal shift may have lead some to believe that local red-headed woodpeckers have migrated south. In fact, they just moved to more protected winter habitats in the near vicinity.

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Robert J. Reber is an emeritus faculty member in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. He has been a lifelong student of many aspects of the Natural World, including archaeology. Bob has served as a managing editor and author for publications such as “The Illinois Steward” magazine and the “Illinois Master Naturalist Curriculum Guide.”