[Taltarzac725]

Red-headed Woodpecker Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

One of these was very busy near one of the Villages' golf courses this morning.

[Topspinmo]

Red headed woodpeckers are getting rare is most of the country. They have to compete with starlings which steal their next cavities. Read headed wood peckers are docile. Starlings are most aggressive foreign invaders that reek havoc indigenous birds. I seen few Pileated woodpeckers at far north fringe of the villages second largest woodpecker. Only the ivory billed woodpeckers are larger, but no one seen one since 1950s

[leftyf]

I saw one Pileated Woodpecker the other day. First one I have ever seen here.

[Taltarzac725]

Originally Posted by leftyf

I saw one Pileated Woodpecker the other day. First one I have ever seen here.

I think this was a red-headed woodpecker that we saw. There were two other people with me and we all checked it out. The Pileated one looks quite a lot bigger than the one we saw.

[Topspinmo]

Originally Posted by Taltarzac725

I think this was a red-headed woodpecker that we saw. There were two other people with me and we all checked it out. The Pileated one looks quite a lot bigger than the one we saw.

Redheads are only woodpeckers that have solid red head down to the shoulders, even in Oklahoma redheads are declining due to starling predatory nest takeover. I would get occasional redhead in my yard, and occasional Pileated.

[Taltarzac725]

Originally Posted by leftyf

I saw one Pileated Woodpecker the other day. First one I have ever seen here.

This was probably a Pileated Woodpecker that I saw. I was recalling the conversation I had with the couple I was visiting with and it seems that it did not have a red head but a red crest.

They might read this too on Talk of the Villages. Never know just who reads Talk of the Villages.

[Topspinmo]

Red belled woodpecker has red strip on top of their heads and about same size as red headed woodpecker, the Pileated woodpeckers are 2/3s size of crow you can’t compare them to others cause the are at least 3 times larger and the have solid bright red crown the dome to point across top of their heads. The only other woodpeckers are downy and sapsuckers, but they are smaller than redbelled or red headed woodpeckers. All woodpeckers has distinctive flight pattern, flap, flap, drop, etc... when you see Pileated you might think it’s crow but the flight pattern gives it away.