#RED BELLIED WOODPECKER PATCH#

Babies have a high-pitched begging call of pree-pree-pree. They tap on hollow trees, and even on aluminum roofs, metal guttering and transformer boxes in urban environments, to communicate with potential partners. Often, these woodpeckers 'drum' to attract mates. Males tend to call and drum more frequently than females, but both sexes call. Calls have been described as sounding like churr-churr-churr or thrraa-thrraa-thrraa with an alternating br-r-r-r-t sound. Red-bellied woodpeckers are noisy birds, and have many varied calls. The reddish tinge on the belly that gives the bird its name is difficult to see in field identification.

#RED BELLIED WOODPECKER PATCH#

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. Description Adult female – showing reddish lower bellyĪdults are mainly light gray on the face and underparts they have black and white barred patterns on their back, wings and tail. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised. The red-bellied woodpecker is one of 24 species now placed in the genus Melanerpes that was introduced by the English ornithologist William John Swainson in 1832. The locality is now restricted to South Carolina. Linnaeus specified the type locality as America septentrionali (North America). When in 1758 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the tenth edition, he included the red-bellied woodpecker, coined the binomial name Picus carolinus and cited Catesby's book. Catesby used the English name 'The Red-bellied Wood-pecker' and the Latin Picus ventre rubro. The English naturalist Mark Catesby described and illustrated the red-bellied woodpecker in his book The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands which was published between 17. The red-bellied earns its name from the pale reddish blush of its lower underside. Though it has a vivid orange-red crown and nape it is not to be confused with the red-headed woodpecker, a separate species of woodpecker in the same genus with an entirely red head and neck that sports a solid black back and white belly.

It breeds mainly in the eastern United States, ranging as far south as Florida and as far north as Canada. The red-bellied woodpecker ( Melanerpes carolinus) is a medium-sized woodpecker of the family Picidae.

Red bellied woodpecker