Scientific Name:   Melanerpes carolinus

Length:   9.4 in (24 cm)

Weight:   2.0-3.2 oz (56-91 g)

Wingspan:   13.0-16.5 in (33-42 cm)

Nest:   The nest are in dead trees, dead limbs of live trees, and fence posts. The same pair may nest in the same tree year after year, but typically excavate a new cavity each year, often placing the new one beneath the previous year’s.

Eggs:   4-5, sometimes 3-8. White. Incubation is by both sexes (with male incubating at night and part of day), 12-14 days.

Feeding Behavior:   The woodpecker uses its bill as a chisel, drilling into bark or probing cracks on trunk of trees. In this manner, it is able to pull out beetles and other insects from the tree with the help of its long tongue. This behavior is also seen in storing food from other animals by hiding food behind bark or deep in cracks of a tree.

Young:   Are fed by both parents, and leave the nest about 22-27 days after hatching. Parents may continue to feed young for 6 weeks or more after they leave nest.

Range:   They can be found in forests, woodlands, and wooded suburbs of the eastern United States, including oak-hickory forest, pine-hardwood forest, maple and tulip-poplar stands, and pine flatwoods. Not migratory, wintering throughout its range. Some wander north in fall and remain through winter. Performs local movements, concentrating in areas of good food supply outside the breeding season.

Brief Description:   Adults are mainly light gray on the face and underparts; they have black and white barred patterns on their back, wings and tail. Adult males have a red cap going from the bill to the nape; females have a red patch on the nape and another above the bill. The reddish tinge on the belly that gives the bird its name is difficult to see in field identification. White patches become visible on the wings in flight.