Join BirdNote tomorrow, November 30th!
Illustrator David Sibley and actor H. Jon Benjamin will face off in the bird illustration battle of the century during BirdNote's Year-end Celebration and Auction!
Red-headed Woodpeckers Fly on Checkerboard Wings
Fashionable and clever!
© Nick Athanas
Red-headed Woodpeckers have mastered the art of high-contrast fashion. Both males and females have deep-crimson head feathers. Their clean white body feathers are offset by large patches of ink black feathers on their neck, wings, and tail. This is why you’ll hear some folks refer to them as "flying checkerboards."
This episode is dedicated to Bob Goodale whose lifelong love for birds and nature continues to inspire.
BirdNote®
Red-headed Woodpeckers Fly on Checkerboard Wings
Written by Ariana Remmel
This is BirdNote.
Red-headed Woodpeckers have mastered the art of high-contrast fashion. As their name suggests, both males and females flaunt deep-crimson head feathers. Their clean white body feathers are offset by large patches of ink black feathers on their neck, wings, and tail. That bold, color-blocking pattern is why these woodpeckers are sometimes called "flying checkerboards."
[Red-headed Woodpecker calls with ambi ML305955]
Red-headed Woodpeckers have lived in open woodlands east of the Rocky Mountains for more than 2 million years, according to fossil records. They used to be one of the most abundant woodpecker species in the U.S., but their populations have been declining for decades, likely due to loss of sufficient dead standing trees where they build their cavity nests.
[Red-headed Woodpecker calling and drumming ML318656311]
Red-headed Woodpeckers are one of only a few woodpeckers known to store food for later. They'll cache fruits, seeds, and even live grasshoppers within natural cracks and crevices — going so far as to hide their hoard under bark and leaves from would-be thieves.
[Red-headed Woodpecker calling and drumming ML318656311]
Clever birds.
For BirdNote, I'm Ariana Remmel.
This episode is dedicated to Bob Goodale whose lifelong love for birds and nature continues to inspire.
###
Senior Producer: Mark Bramhill
Producer: Sam Johnson
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Red-headed Woodpecker ML318656311 recorded by Laura Sare. Red-headed Woodpecker ML305955 recorded by Wil Hershberger.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2025 BirdNote February 2025
Narrator: Ariana Remmel
ID# RHWO-02-2025-02-05 RHWO-02
References:
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-headed_Woodpecker
https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/red-headed-woodpecker
