A medium-sized woodpecker that has a light grey face and belly and a black back, wings, and tail with white spots throughout. Males have a red crown and nape, while females have only a red nape. The small red patch on the lower abdomen that gives this woodpecker its name is difficult to see. Like most woodpeckers, it is beneficial to humans, consuming large numbers of insects.
Forest
Red-bellied woodpeckers are found in the eastern half of the United States. Their range extends east from the wooded portion of the Great Plain states to the Atlantic coast and from the Gulf of Mexico to southern portions of Ontario and northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and New York.
Common
Diurnal
Red-bellied woodpeckers are omnivorous. They eat a wide variety of fruits, nuts, seeds, berries and tree sap, as well as arboreal arthropods and other invertebrates.
Red-bellied Woodpeckers are diurnal and solitary, except during the breeding season when they consort with mates and offspring. Walking, climbing and hopping are all forms of locomotion used by red-bellied woodpeckers. An interesting form of locomotion used by woodpeckers is called "hitching," hopping upward along a vertical surface such as a tree trunk interspersed with pauses to look for food.
Least Concern
