Woodpecker Pictures and Identification Guide

Woodpeckers are a very popular group of birds in the Picidae family.

Related Resources Bird Articles Woodpecker Pictures

Approximately two hundred different species of woodpeckers are found throughout the world.

There are about twenty different species in the United States. Most of the species have relatively healthy populations.

The Red-cockaded Woodpecker, once common in the Southeast, has been classified as endangered since 1970, due primarily to habitat loss. The woodpecker breeds in old growth pine forests. A variety of public and private organizations, including Fort Bragg in North Carolina, actively manage their populations, with a goal of increasing and/or stablilzing them.

The Ivory-billed Woodpecker has received much attention since 2006. Once thought to be extinct, reported sitings during the 2006 calander year in Arkansas and Florida, have renewed interest in the bird. Currently researchers and birding enthusiasts are camping out in areas where the bird has been sited, hoping to get a picture to validate the claims.



Most people correctly think of woodpeckers as birds that hammer on trees looking for their next meal. Researchers looking into the question of the relationship between brain damage and woodpecker hammering discovered that woodpecker skulls share many similarities with a football helmet. It is made of a sponge like material that wraps around the brain and cushions it during the hammering.

Woodpeckers enjoy a diverse diet eating insects, fruit, nuts and other readily availiable food. Across species, dietary habits differ slightly. The Acorn Woodpecker, for example, is well known for gathering acorns and placing them in holes in trees for future use. They will also eat insects and fruits. Flickers, on the other hand, are particularly adapted to ground, as well as tree eating practices. You can often see them walking on the ground looking for ants and other insects.

Most woodpeckers are also characterized as sexually dichromatic, meaning the males and females look a bit different. The male typically has a red patch either on the back of the head or on the face.

You can often hear male woodpeckers drumming on wood or metal objects in your neighborhood. That is their way of signaling females in the area of their presence. Some people consider the territorial drumming a nuisance when the birds use a wall or roof of their home as the drum.

Additional Information

Woodpecker Abundance in the United States.

© 2004-2007. Patricia A. Michaels