In this blog post we look at the common woodpeckers of the Southeastern United States
First, I’d like to introduce you to Lisa’s favorite of our local Woodpeckers. When we first started feeding the backyard birds together, this one stood out so much that she had to name him. “Scoob”. Scoob is our resident Red-bellied Woodpecker. He comes down from a tall skinny hardwood tree by our deck and then lands on the handrail. From here he usually scoots along or hops over to the food plate. He sometimes scarfs down 5 or 6 suet balls (C&S Suet Nuggets) before flying back up into the tree. He ate so many of these in that first year that we nicknamed the Suet Nuggets “Scoob Balls”.
You might be surprised to know that the old Looney Toon “Woody Woodpecker” was modeled after a real-life creature. You may be even more surprised to know that this is another species we can actually see on our bird feeders here in Marietta Georgia! This one was outside of Marietta (Duluth) however, we have seen them nearby at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield park also. Meet “Woodrow” the Red-headed Woodpecker:
Another you might see in the Winter months but also similar in size: The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. We didn’t make up the name either! We’ve only captured him a few times, usually on cold, windy days when there aren’t many insects out. He is very shy and flies away quickly at the slightest sign of people.
While the Yellow-bellied sapsucker is an occasional visitor, the next woodpecker species are far more common. We even see them taking turns on the suet-cake feeders we put up. Robert and Roberta are our resident Downy Woodpeckers (Robert is shown below with red coloring on his head, Roberta is the female on the left which lacks red) These are the smallest woodpeckers in North America! The male always has the small red patch, while the female is completely black and white.
Just as common as the Downy Woodpecker, the Hairy Woodpecker (shown below on the left-side of the feeder), which looks nearly identical at a glance but is almost twice the size of the Downy. These two are females, you can tell this easily because there is no red visible on either of their heads.
On some occasions, you may even get a chance to see the largest Woodpecker in North America in your yard. This bird is absolutely massive and makes the Red-bellied and Yellow-bellied sapsuckers look small in comparison. We used to joke that it seemed like a Pterodactyl was visiting the yard! These giant birds require large mature trees to nest in, so national parks or very old subdivisions are good places to spot them. Lucky for us, we are very close to Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield park, and there are hundreds of acres of trees which provide food and shelter for these amazing birds. The male and the female both have red on top of their heads, but the male has red below the beak as well. The photo below shows a female.
While the next one is not a “Woodpecker” by name, it’s definitely in the family. The “Northern Flicker” is usually found on tree trunks near the ground, and sometimes even hopping around in flower beds or near rotting log piles. We named our first flicker that visited "Norbert", but he prefers “Norbie” for short. Here you can see Norbie watching the Suet feeder, awaiting his turn.
