8 Species of woodpeckers in North Carolina
There are 8 different species of woodpeckers in North Carolina. They range from the smallest woodpecker, the Downy, to one of the largest woodpeckers, the Pileated. Some are seen all year long including the Hairy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, and Red-headed Woodpecker. While the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is only in North Carolina during the non-breeding season while others are rare like the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker.
Woodpeckers can be found in various places, including suburban backyards, woodlands, and forests. This resource is a guide to identifying and learning more about these birds in detail or finding out which kind lives near you in North Carolina.
Some people see woodpeckers as a nuisance since they can cause damage to buildings and houses, especially cedar siding. Others see them as good as they eat insects and keep the insect population in check.
Woodpeckers are interesting creatures and provide a beautiful sound when pecking.
All woodpeckers are protected by the federal migratory bird treaty act which makes it unlawful to kill, harm, or hunt, etc. any woodpecker species.
Looking for woodpeckers in North Carolina? While you can see Downy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers in your backyard while others can be found in parks and forests. A great place to see not only woodpeckers but all birds is of course the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. Also make sure to check out the Blue Ridge Mountains, along with Blue Ridge Parkway, the Appalachian Trail, Croatan National Forest, Sandhills Game Land, Mattamuskeet NWR, and Cape Hatteras.
For other types of birds in North Carolina see our article on Backyard Birds in North Carolina and Owls in North Carolina, Ducks in North Carolina, and Hawks in North Carolina.
1. downy woodpeckers
Scientific Name: Dryobates pubescens Size: 5.5-6.7 inches
Description And Field Marks
Downy Woodpeckers are bigger than the House Finch but smaller than Red-winged Blackbirds and are the smallest woodpecker in North Carolina. It has a black-and-white striped head and black wings with white spots and a solid white back and white underparts. The Downy Woodpecker has a black tail with white outer tail feathers with black bars or spots. The adult males have a small red patch on the back of their heads.
Nesting
Look for their nest in dead trees or live trees with dead areas. They carve out an area large enough for the eggs and the bird. They line the nest only with wood chips. The nest can take weeks to make and is done by both the male and female.
A Downy woodpecker only has one brood each year with 3 to 8 eggs which are white in color. The incubation period is around 12 days with both the male and female taking turns. The young will stay in the nest for around 30 days.
Diet
Mostly Downy Woodpeckers eat insects and sap from the pine tree’s sap wells. The male tends to eat from the ground while the female likes to find insects from branches and in trees. They will also eat seeds, weeds, and fruit.
The Downy Woodpecker will visit your backyard suet feeders for suet and nuts.
Habitat
The Downy is the most common woodpecker in the state of North Carolina, especially in places where there are trees. You will see them in residential areas, cities, farmland, and wooded areas.
Call And Drumming
2. red-bellied woodpecker
Scientific Name: Melanerpes carolinus Size: 9.4 inches
Description And Field Marks
The red-bellied woodpecker is widespread and common across the United States. Their physical appearance makes them easy to identify, and they are also known for their distinctive call.
You can identify them by their red belly (hence the name) and black and white stripes down their back. Male Red-bellied Woodpeckers also have a red cap, but females only have napes of red.
It’s a medium-sized woodpecker, it’s loud, and it will peck on your siding. These are the woodpeckers that are a nuisance in suburban areas because they can cause a lot of damage to your cedar shingles.
Nesting
Red-bellied Woodpeckers also build nest sites in dead trees and make the same nest each year. The male and female help to excavate the hole and care for the eggs. They lay up to 4-5 eggs on top of wood chips inside the nest cavity. The eggs hatch after about 2 weeks, and the young birds leave the nest after about 4-5 weeks.
Diet
Red-bellied Woodpeckers devour spiders, insects, and seeds from grasses, fruits, and nuts. They are especially fond of acorns and beech nuts. In fact, they play an important role in dispersing these seeds since they often cache (or store) more food than they can eat in one sitting.
Loves suet, peanut butter, and peanuts from your backyard feeders.
Habitat
Red-bellied Woodpeckers are found in all Eastern US states, and they don’t migrate. This means that you can see them in North Carolina all year round! They tend to stay close to the ground and can often be found in birdfeeders, specifically in wooded areas.
Call And Drumming
3. hairy woodpecker
Scientific Name: Leuconotopicus villosus Size: 7.1-10.2 inches
Description And Field Marks
Very similar to the Downy Woodpecker in color and looks except the Hairy Woodpecker is larger in size and has a longer bill.
Nesting
Hairy Woodpeckers make their nest in trees, especially diet trees. They lay 3-6 all-white eggs with an incubation period of 10 to 12 days. The young woodpeckers remain in the nest for about a month.
Diet
Their main source of food is insects that they find in trees and branches.
Habitat
Hairy Woodpeckers are year-round residents of North Carolina backyards and also wood forests, especially pine trees which are abundant. If you don’t see them you will definitely hear them drumming on trees.
Call And Drumming
4. red-headed woodpeckers
Scientific Name: Melanerpes erythrocephalus Size: 7.5-9.1 inches
Description And Field Marks
You can’t miss these medium-sized birds with their bright red head and white belly. The Red-headed woodpecker is the size of a Hairy woodpecker, between the size of a Robin and a Crow.
It has a powerful, spike bill that it uses to peck at wood to get insects. Its back and the tip of its tail are black but it has white wings. The male and female look the same but an immature bird has a brownish head with brown on its back and although its wings are white they have brown lines on them.
Nesting
The male picks out the nesting site and both the male and female help to build the nest, which is usually in dead trees.
They have one to two broods each year with 3 to 10 eggs which are pure white in color. The incubation period is around 12 to 14 days with both the male and female taking turns. The young will stay in the nest for 24 to 31 days.
Diet
Their diet consists mainly of insects, fruits, and seeds. It is one of the few woodpeckers that will store its food in tree cavities to consume at a later date. They will also visit backyard suet feeders during the winter.
Habitat
The red-headed woodpecker is one of the more aggressive woodpeckers as it will fight with birds larger than itself and even take over nest boxes from other birds including ducks.
They like areas where they are dead trees. They can be plentiful in an area one year and can be rarely seen the next year.
You will see them in North Carolina all year long but the best time to see them is during the breeding season in spring and summer.
Call And Drumming
5. yellow-bellied sapsucker
Scientific Name: Sphyrapicus varius Size: 7.1-8.7 inches
Description And Field Marks
The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is larger than the Downy Woodpecker and smaller than the Hairy Woodpecker about the size of a Robin with black and white plumage.
It has a straight bill and long wings The yellow-bellied sapsucker woodpecker has markings on its underside, but its plumage is mostly black and white. The female has a red cap on its head while the male also has a red cap plus a red throat. They both have pale yellow bellies.
Nesting
The male chips out a cavity in a tree about 10 inches deep which takes him several weeks. As the cavity is deep inside, the outside hole of the nest is only about 1.5 inches giving protection to the eggs and young.
The female lays 3 to 6 white eggs with an incubation period of 10 to 13 days. The young stay in the nest for about a month.
Diet
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker drills into trees and eats their sap similar to the way we tap a tree for maple syrup. They don’t go on dead trees like other woodpeckers but love maple trees and other trees. They sometimes are seen on feeders eating suet.
Habitat
The yellow-bellied sapsucker is a migratory bird that mostly visits North Carolina for breeding during the spring and summer months.
The yellow-bellied sapsucker is known for drilling small, neatly spaced rows of sap wells. Look for the yellow-bellied sapsucker by its love of aspen trees. They act like other woodpeckers with the way they move up and down the tree but are very protective of their sap wells keeping other birds away.
Call And Drumming
6. northern flicker
Scientific Name: Colaptes auratus Size: 11.0-12.2 inches
Description And Field
The Northern Flicker male and female are similar in color. They both have a rounded head, the bill is curved down and the tail tapers to a long point.
With its gray-brown plumage, Northern Flickers stand out from other woodpeckers in their area. They also have plenty of dark markings on their undersides and brightly colored tail feathers.
Although the same bird their colors differ from the eastern United States (bright yellow wing and tail feathers) and the western US (red wing and tail feathers).
The Northern Flicker is also known as “the woodpecker that doesn’t peck wood.” Instead, it cleans insects from the bark of trees.
Nesting
It nests in holes excavated by other animals, such as squirrels and woodpeckers. It lays 5 to 8 eggs which are all white. They only have one brood per nesting season.
The incubation period is around 2 weeks and the young stay in the nest for about a month.
Diet
Northern Flickers mostly will eat insects that they get from the ground. They will “drum” at the ground as other woodpeckers drum in trees and wood. During the winter months, they will also eat fruits and seeds.
The Northern Flicker is a great backyard bird because it is generally easy to attract and stops in at your suet and peanut feeders, but most likely you’ll see them nesting in old trees.
Habitat
You will see Northern Flickers in city parks and backyards in the suburbs. They will also be in woodlands with open trees, burned forests, swamps, and marshes.
The most common time to see the Northern Flicker is during the spring and summer in North Carolina although you can see them year-round.
Call And Drumming
The Northern Flicker has a wide range of calls. It has a typical woodpecker-like “drum” and a more musical, gurgling call that is often mistaken for the song of the Red-winged Blackbird.
They make excellent watch birds due to their loud “wicka-wicka-wicka” call that can be heard from quite a distance.
7. pileated woodpecker
Scientific Name: Dryocopus pileatus Size: 16.5 inches
Description And Field Marks
The largest woodpeckers in North Carolina are the Pileated. It’s almost the size of a crow with an all-black body with white stripes down a long neck and a bright red crest on the back of their heads and strong bills. White under-wing and white wing patches are easily seen in flight.
Pileated Woodpeckers fly in fairly straight lines, unlike other woodpecker species, who fly in undulating lines.
These birds have been known to thrive in North Carolina’s forests, especially throughout the Smokey Mountains and the Blue Ridge. Therefore, Pileated Woodpeckers provide an important source of biodiversity to the state’s ecosystem and also act as indicators for healthy woodlands.
These are noisy, loud woodpeckers. Their drum is slow and powerful, accelerates, and then trails off, not more than two times a minute.
Nesting
Pileated Woodpeckers drill out nest holes in large tree trunks. These nests can take from 3 to 6 weeks to build as they are very large, up to 2 feet wide.
Pileated Woodpeckers lay 3 to 5 white eggs each breeding season. The incubation period is 15 to 18 days and the young will remain in the nest for 24 to 31 days.
Diet
They really like carpenter ants, so they’re often found foraging at the bottoms of dead trees or on fallen logs.
Habitat
Likes mature forests and open woodlands. Pileated Woodpeckers look for dead trees and logs, which offer food and a nest cavity.
Bird Notes
Pileated Woodpecker holes are rectangular rather than round or oval like other woodpeckers, and they are deep enough to break smaller trees in half.
Call And Drumming
8. Red-cockaded Woodpecker
Scientific Name: Dryobates borealis Size: 7.9 to 9.1 inches
Description And Field Marks
The Red-Cockaded Woodpecker is on the endangered species list since their population has decreased significantly since the 1960s.
Although you would think that the red-cockaded woodpecker would have lots of red on it, they are mostly black and white in color like the downy and hairy woodpeckers. The side of a robin, with a large white cheek patch and black stripe on the lower portion of the cheek. Only the males have a tiny almost invisible red streak on its cheek.
Nesting
The Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers live in the family unit and raise their young together as a family. It’s usually the young male siblings that remain with the parents to raise next year’s nesting birds. They make their nests in roost cavities in large live pine trees.
They have only one brood each season with 2 to 5 white shiny eggs. The incubation period is 10 to 11 days and the nesting period is 26 to 29 days.
Diet
They eat larvae and insects found under the bark of pine trees. These insects include southern pine beetles, other beetles, and ants. They will also eat pine seeds and fruits such as cherries, grapes, and blueberries.
Habitat
The red-cockaded woodpecker lives in family units in old-growth southern pine forests. You will find them mostly on federal lands in the southeast United States. In North Carolina, you can see them if you are lucky except in western North Carolina.
Call And Drumming
Ivory-billed Woodpecker
The ivory-billed woodpecker, the largest woodpecker in the United States, is believed to be extinct but there is some evidence that it was spotted in the south in recent years in Arkansas, Louisiana, and South Carolina. These spottings have not been confirmed and are under investigation.
They are black and white and the male has a red crown and the female has a black crown. If you think you see one of these birds please report it to the state Audubon society immediately.
FAQs
What Time Of Year Are Woodpeckers Most Active?
Woodpeckers are most active during the morning and evening hours.
Do Woodpeckers Only Live In Forests?
Woodpeckers can be found living throughout North America, and they are generally year-round residents. They prefer to live in areas with lots of trees, as they use these trees for food, nesting sites, and roosting sites.
How To Attract Woodpeckers To Your Backyard
The best way to attract woodpeckers to your backyard is to provide them with a natural habitat that includes plenty of trees, shrubs, and other vegetation. You can also provide birdhouses or nesting boxes for them to use.
Woodpeckers are found in all types of forests across North America, but they are most common in deciduous forests. These birds are important to the ecosystem because they help control insect populations and disperse seeds.
How Can You Identify Each Type Of Woodpecker?
Step 1: Look At The Overall Size Of The Woodpecker.
The Pileated Woodpecker is the biggest woodpecker and is mostly black with white stripes on its face and neck. To identify this woodpecker, look for a large triangle of the red crest on the top of its head.
Downy Woodpeckers and Hairy Woodpeckers can be easily identified by their bill size in relation to their head size. Downy Woodpeckers have a small bill while Hairy Woodpeckers have a bill that is almost the same size as their head.
Step 2: Look At The Coloration Of The Woodpecker.
There are a few ways to identify woodpeckers by their appearance. One way is to look at the coloration of the woodpecker. Male woodpeckers usually have a red patch on the back of their heads, while females do not.
Step 3: Look At The Habitat Of The Woodpecker.
The habitat can help identify the type of woodpecker. Woodpeckers are typically found in forests, so if you see a woodpecker in a forest, it is most likely a Hairy Woodpecker. If you see a woodpecker in an open field, it is most likely a Downy Woodpecker.
What Is The Average Lifespan Of A Woodpecker?
Woodpeckers are small birds with a lifespan of 6 to 10 years.
What Do Woodpeckers Eat?
Woodpeckers are a type of bird that is known for its ability to peck at trees. Woodpeckers mainly feed on wood-boring insects, larvae, grubs, eggs, and pupae. They use their sharp and heavy bill to chisel and dig into trees in order to reach the food.
Suet, sunflower seeds, and peanuts are the best foods for attracting woodpeckers. Woodpeckers eat a variety of insects, including beetle larvae, ants, and caterpillars. They also consume a mix of berries, grains, and acorns.
How To Attract Woodpeckers To Your Backyard
The best way to attract woodpeckers to your backyard is by setting up a feeder and filling it with suet, sunflower seeds, and peanuts. You can also attract woodpeckers by getting a bird bath and planting native trees.
Conclusion
Now that you know more about the different types of woodpeckers in North Carolina, keep an eye and especially an ear out to see these birds.
For more information on woodpeckers in North Carolina as well as other birds check out the North Carolina Audubon.
