Red-headed Woodpecker
(Melanerpes erythrocephalus)

Overview

Summary

© Kenneth Cole Schneider - License
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In Canada, the Red-headed Woodpecker is restricted to southern regions of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario. The population has shown a large decrease relative to about 1970, as indicated by the Breeding Bird Survey. With continuing loss of large dead trees for nesting and roosting, and nut-bearing trees for foraging, threats to the population remain considerable. These threats resulted in the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada re-assessing as Threatened (from Special Concern) in 2007 (COSEWIC 2007a). This species has been identified as a priority for conservation and/or stewardship in one or more Bird Conservation Region Strategies in Canada.

Designations

Population status

Population estimate

Distribution maps

• BirdLife International / NatureServe
• Breeding Bird Survey (BBS): Relative Abundance and Breeding Distribution (1993-2012)

Migration strategy, occurrence

Responsibility for conservation of world population

Conservation and management

Historically, the decline of the Red-headed Woodpecker was probably related to the loss of large stands of mature beech and oak, the main source of food in the wintering areas of its range (Smith et al. 2000). More recently, loss of large nesting and roosting trees to disease and the removal of dead trees (snags) and the loss of senescent elm stems has likely contributed to the decline (COSEWIC 2007a). Expansion of beech bark disease in Ontario may further threaten the species’ stability in Canada by removing an important foraging source (COSEWIC 2007a), although the effect of the introduced, invasive Emerald Ash Borer beetle on ash trees might offer new foraging and cavity opportunities. Some suggestions for potential conservation actions include protection of mature bottomland in the wintering areas and preservation of large nesting and roosting trees in the breeding areas (COSEWIC 2007a). The Canadian population may be bolstered by limited immigration from the more southerly parts of the species’ breeding range in the United States (COSEWIC 2007a). For information on the legal status of this species under the Species at Risk Act (SARA) and to view available recovery documents, see the SARA Registry.

Bird conservation region strategies

Environment and Climate Change Canada and partners have developed Bird Conservation Region Strategies in each of Canada’s Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs). In these strategies, selected species are identified as priorities for one or more of the following reasons:

• conservation concerns (i.e., species vulnerable due to population size, distribution, population trend, abundance, or threats)
• stewardship responsibilities (i.e., species that typify the regional avifauna or have a large proportion of their range or population in the sub-region)
• management concerns (i.e., species that require ongoing management because of their socio-economic importance as game species, or because of their impacts on other species or habitats)
• other concerns (i.e., species deemed a priority by regional experts for other reasons than those listed above or because they are listed as species at risk or concern at the provincial level)

Select any of the sub-regions below to view the BCR strategy for additional details.

References

• COSEWIC. 2007a. COSEWIC Assessment and Update Status Report on the Red-headed Woodpecker Melanerpes erythrocephalus in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Ottawa. vi + 27 pp. COSEWIC. 2007a. COSEWIC Assessment and Update Status Report on the Red-headed Woodpecker Melanerpes erythrocephalus in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Ottawa. vi + 27 pp. (Link)
• Smith, K.G., J.H. Withgott and P.G. Rodewald. 2000. Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Smith, K.G., J.H. Withgott and P.G. Rodewald. 2000. Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. (Link)
• Woodliffe, A. 2007. Red-headed Woodpecker pp. 320-321 in: Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Ontario, 2001-2005. Cadman, M.D., D.A. Sutherland, G.G. Beck, D. Lepage and A.R. Couturier, Eds. Bird Studies Canada, Environment Canada, Ontario Field Ornithologists, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, and Ontario Nature, Toronto, Ontario.