9 woodpeckers in Wisconsin
There are 9 different species of woodpeckers in Wisconsin. They range from the smallest woodpecker, the Downy, to the largest Woodpecker, the Pileated. Some are common woodpeckers and are seen throughout Wisconsin including the Hairy Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Northern Flicker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, and Red-headed Woodpecker. While others like the Black-backed woodpecker are seen mostly in the northern part of the state and the American Three-toed woodpecker is very rare.
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 Wisconsin.
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, hunt, etc. any species of woodpecker.
Looking for woodpeckers in Wisconsin? 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 Chequamegion-Nicolet National Forest with over 1.5 million acres in northern Wisconsin. Also, make sure to check out Black River State Forest, Brule River State Forest, Devil’s Lake State Park, Manitowoc Lakefront, Crex Meadows SWA, Pheasant Branch Conservancy, and Schlitz Audubon Nature Center to name a few of the many beautiful places in Wisconsin to see birds and other wildlife
For more birdwatching in Wisconsin see our article on Backyard Birds in Wisconsin.
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 Wisconsin. 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 Wisconsin, especially in places where there are trees. You will see them in residential areas, cities, farmland, and wooded areas.
Call And Drumming
2. 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 Wisconsin 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
3. northern flickers
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 Wisconsin 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.
4. pileated woodpecker
Scientific Name: Dryocopus pileatus Size: 16.5 inches
Description And Field Marks
The largest woodpeckers in Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin’s forests, especially throughout the Chequamegion-Nicolet National Forest. 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.
These woodpeckers are something to see in person. The first time I saw one was on a hike in Isle Royale National Park. Their colors are beautiful and their drumming on trees sounds very loud.
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
5. red-headed woodpecker
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 Wisconsin all year long but the best time to see them is during the breeding season in spring and summer.
Call And Drumming
6. 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 Wisconsin 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
7. red-bellied woodpeckers
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 Wisconsin 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
8. black-backed woodpecker
Scientific Name: Picoides arcticus Size: 9.1 inches
Description And Field Marks
The black-backed woodpecker is a species of bird that is a native north american woodpecker. It is considered important because it plays an essential role in the boreal forest ecosystem, contributing to fire maintenance and creating habitats for other wildlife.
This predominantly black woodpecker has some white markings on it by the underbelly, throat, and above its bill. Males and juveniles have a yellow patch on the top of their heads which is missing in the adult female. It is the same size as the Hairy Woodpecker.
Nesting
The black-backed woodpecker builds its nest in trees or on branches, usually excavating cavities into dead trees or stumps. The female lays between two to six eggs, which are white. Both parents share the duties of incubating the eggs and raising their young. After hatching, both parents feed and care for their young until they fledge at around 28 days old.
Diet
The Black-backed Woodpecker is an important part of the food chain in New Hampshire, as it primarily eats wood-boring insects and larvae. It also has a significant role in dispersing fungi spores from tree trunks, helping maintain healthy forests.
Habitat
They also find burnt forests and insect-infested forests and make them their home.
The black-backed woodpecker can be found primarily in the northern boreal forests of Canada but is seen in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula year-round. They find burnt forests and insect-infested forests and make them their home.
Call And Drumming
9. American three-toed woodpecker (rare in Wisconsin)
Scientific Name: Picoides dorsalis Size: 8.3-9.1 inches
Description And Field Marks
American Three-toed Woodpeckers are larger than a Downy but smaller than a Hairy Woodpecker. Both males and females are black and white with the male having a yellow patch on the forehead.
They are known for their distinctive appearance of having only three toes. They share this with the Eurasian Three-toed woodpecker. It was first thought that they were one species as they look alike but the DNA and voice of both species are different.
With only three toes, these species may be able to lean farther away from the tree and thereby hit the tree harder than other woodpeckers, all of which have four toes.
Nesting
The male will tap on the bark of trees to attract females and then perform a courtship display in order to attract her attention. Once she has accepted his advances, he will build the nest together with her.
American Three-toed Woodpeckers typically make their nests in the cavities of trees or under shingles. They create a bowl-shaped structure to lay their eggs and raise their young. The birds will also store food for later use during the winter in these same spots.
The female lays 3 to 7 white almost round eggs. The incubation period is 12 to 14 days. The young stay in the nest until they can survive on their own.
Diet
They search for food (mainly beetles) by peeling back the bark of dead trees mostly spruce and pine trees. They also eat the larvae of wood-boring beetles.
Habitat
You will see this woodpecker in Northern North America and the western mountains. They make their home mostly in Canada. They are on the endangered list and are rare birds in Wisconsin.
You will mostly find them in burnt-out forests and they prefer spruce trees. Follow the beetle population and you will see American-three-toed Woodpeckers.
Call And Drumming
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 Wisconsin, keep an eye and especially an ear out to see these birds.
For more information on woodpeckers in Wisconsin as well as other birds check out the Wisconsin Audubon.
