Red-headed Woodpecker Habitat Model
go to: USFWS Gulf of Maine Watershed Habitat Analysis
go to: Species Table

Draft Date:
October 2002

Species:
Red-headed woodpecker, Melanerpes erythrocephalus

Use of Study Area Resources:
Reproduction. "Widespread, but patchily distributed across the eastern United States, west to the edge of the Great Plains in New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana. Also found in extreme southern Canada from Saskatchewan to New Brunswick [formerly]. Populations and range has historically fluctuated with changes in land use and dominant tree species (Smith et al. 2000). Most common in the mid-western and Gulf Coast states.  Red-headed woodpeckers are now scarce in New England (Foss 1994, DeGraaf and Rudis 1983). Viet and Petersen (1993) note that they were relatively abundant in migration prior to the early 1900's, but even then there were few breeding records. Winter: Regularly through the southern two-thirds of the breeding range, rarely to the northern limits of the breeding range" (Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology).

Habitat Requirements:
Cover:    Open woodland, especially with beech or oak, open situations with scattered trees, parks, cultivated areas and gardens (AOU 1983 in Brown et al. 1999a). "...groves, farm country, orchards, and shade trees in towns. Generally avoids unbroken forest, favoring open country or at least clearings in the woods. Also found in pine-savannah, pine-oak barrens, forested wetlands or flooded timber, and timber stands treated with herbicides or burns" (Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology).  "Prefers open areas with snags and lush herbaceous ground cover" (Hardin and Evans 1977 in DeGraaf and Rudis 1983); open, upland meadow or short-grass areas, such as pastures or golf courses (Smith et al. 2000).  Found in dead trees of deciduous forests adjoining fields (Veit and Petersen 1993).

"The nest cavity is usually in a bare dead tree or limb. The male's winter roosting cavity may be used, or a new cavity may be excavated" (Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology). Nests in hole excavated 2-25 meters above ground by both sexes in live tree, dead stub, utility pole, or fencepost. Sometimes uses existing holes in poles or posts. Individuals typically nest in the same tree or cavity in successive years (Ingold 1991 in Brown et al. 1999a).

Foraging: "An opportunistic forager, often seen on tree trunks and major limbs, but less likely to drill for food than other woodpeckers. Flies out from a perch to catch insects in the air or on ground; also gleans insects from bark and foliage. Gathers acorns, beechnuts, and other nuts in fall, storing them in holes and crevices, then feeding on them during winter. A wide variety of food items has been documented, including wood-boring and flying insects, fruit, corn, eggs and nestlings of small birds (e.g. Purple Martins and bluebirds), small vertebrates (e.g. mice), seeds; may be attracted to a backyard with suet, sunflower seeds, cracked corn, and bread (Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology). "Eats insects and other invertebrates, berries and nuts, sap, young and eggs of birds. Flycatches, forages on ground and in trees (dead wood) and shrubs. Animal food about 50% of diet. Rarely drills into trees for insects (Terres 1980). Caches food items in crevices. Young are fed insects, worms, spiders, and berries" (Brown et al. 1999b).

Management: "This species is of high conservation concern, primarily because of precipitous population declines nearly throughout its range. Overall, a 50% loss has been noted rangewide since 1966. Reasons for this decline are not clear, and understanding this species' precise habitat relationships and sensitivity to silvicultural and other land-use practices will be important for conserving future populations" (Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology). "Local declines probably have been due to loss of nesting habitat as a result of firewood cutting and forest clearing for agriculture and residential development" (Brown et al. 1999a). Formerly common in residential areas, but decline here probably due to cosmetic removal of dead trees and branches (Smith et al. 2000).

"Preserves need to include woodlot fragments greater than 1.99 hectares (Gutzwiller and Anderson 1987) with a diverse size selection of dead limbs and snags, preferably in groups because birds require multiple snags for roosting and/or foraging (Conner 1976, Sedgewick and Knopf 1990). Open areas above and on the ground are needed for flycatching and ground foraging (Conner and Adkisson 1977)" (from Brown et al. 1999a). Nesting occurred in woodlots in Virginia ranging from 0.5 to 20 ha (Conner 1976 in DeGraaf and Rudis 1983).

Model:
The Breeding Bird Atlas (BBA) data for Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts (courtesy of the University of Vermont COOP Unit) were used to identify the range of the red-headed woodpecker within the study area.  This was supplemented with breeding site information for Massachusetts from Veit and Petersen (1963).  The breeding occurrence data were used to select USDA Forest Service Ecological subunit polygons (Keys et al. 1995); habitat mapping then was restricted to these areas, and to contiguous subunits mostly encompassed by breeding observations.

Our landcover theme does not distinguish forest structure; therefore, it was assumed that deciduous or mixed forest would contain some trees with suitable structure for nesting, provided it was in a patch > 0.5 ha, and interspersed with open cover types (grassland, agriculture, bare ground, or fresh marsh).  Because of the generality of the model, the maximum habitat score was 0.7 on a 0 - 1 scale.

NWI Designations (wetlands only)	Cover Types	Cover Suitability (0 - 1 scale)
	Upland deciduous forest	0.7*
	Upland coniferous forest
	Upland mixed forest	0.7*
	Grassland	0.7**
	Upland scrub/shrub
	Cultivated	0.7**
	Developed
	Bare ground	0.7**
PEM, L2EM	Lake/pond, emergent vegetation	0.7**
PFOcon	Palustrine forest, conifer
PFOdec	Palustrine forest, deciduous	0.7*
PSSdec	Palustrine scrub shrub, deciduous
PSScon	Palustrine scrub shrub, conifer
PAB, L2AB	Lake/pond, aquatic vegetation
L1UB, PUB	Lake/pond, unconsolidated bottom
L2US	Lake, unconsolidated shore
L2RS	Lake, rocky shore
R1UB	Riverine subtidal unconsolidated
Rper	Riverine perennial
E1AB	Estuarine subtidal vegetated
E1UB	Estuarine subtidal unconsolidated bottom
E2AB	Estuarine intertidal algae
E2EM	Estuarine intertidal emergent
E2RS, R1RS	Estuarine, tidal river rocky shore
E2SS	Estuarine intertidal shrub
E2US	Estuarine intertidal unconsolidated shore
M1AB	Marine subtidal vegetated
M1UB	Marine subtidal unconsolidated bottom
M2AB	Marine intertidal algae
M2RS	Marine intertidal rocky shore
M2US	Marine intertidal unconsolidated shore
NOTES	*patch size > 0.5 ha and adjacent to 'open area' **adjacent to forest habitat component

Sources:

Brown, B., M. Koenen and D.W. Mehlman. 1999a. Species Management Abstract: Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus). THE NATURE CONSERVANCY, 4245 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 100, Arlington, VA 2220; downloaded 2/02.

Brown, B., M. Koenen and D.W. Mehlman. 1999b. Melanerpes erythrocephalus - (Linnaeus, 1758) RED-HEADED WOODPECKER. NatureServe Explorer: An online encyclopedia of life [web application]. 2001. Version 1.6 . Arlington, Virginia, USA: NatureServe. Available: http://www.natureserve.org/explorer. (Accessed: February 8, 2002 ).
 
Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. Birds in Forested Landscapes. http://birds.cornell.edu/bfl/speciesaccts/rehwoo.html; downloaded 2/02

DeGraaf, R.M. and D.D. Rudis. 1983. New England Wildlife: Habitat, Natural History and Distribution. USDA Technical Report NE-108.

Foss, C.R. 1994. Atlas of Breeding Birds in New Hampshire. Audubon Soc. of New Hampshire, Concord, NH. 414 pp.

Smith, K.G., J.H. Withgott, and P.G. Rodewald. 2000. Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus). In A. Poole and F. Gill, (eds.) The Birds of North America, No. 518. The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.

Veit, R.R. and W.R. Petersen. 1993. Birds of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Audubon Society. 514 p.