Pileated Woodpecker
(Dryocopus pileatus)
The Pileated Woodpecker is fairly common on the Alabama coast all year. At breeding time, it excavates a cavity up to 70 feet above the ground in the dead limb of a large, mature tree.
(Photo by Dave Cagnolatti)
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Downy Woodpecker
(Picoides pubescens)
The Downy Woodpecker is the smallest North American woodpecker (length about 6 inches) and is a common all year and a breeder on the Alabama coast.
(Photo by Dave Cagnolatti) |
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Hairy Woodpecker
(Picoides villosus)
The Hairy Woodpecker is uncommon all year and is a breeder on the Alabama coast. It is almost identical to the Downy Woodpecker, but is larger(about 9 inches) and has a longer bill.
(Photo by Dave Cagnolatti) |
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Hairy Woodpecker male
(Picoides villosus)
photo by Marlene Cashen
The only difference between male and female birds is that the female lacks the red occipital patch. |
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Red-bellied Woodpecker
(Melanerpes carolinus)
The Red-bellied Woodpecker eats insects, fruit and seeds. It breeds on the Alabama coast, and is common all year.
(photo by Dave Cagnolatti) |
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Red-bellied Woodpecker male
(Melanerpes carolinus)
photo by John Borom
Although it possesses a red cap from bill to nape, the Red-bellied Woodpecker is named for its often overlooked red belly patch. |
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Red-bellied Woodpecker female
(Melanerpes carolinus)
photo by John Borom
A black and white ladder-striped back is characteristic of both sexes. Females lack red on the forehead. |
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Red-cockaded Woodpecker (Above)
(Sphyrapicus varius)
This woodpecker is rare and local in all seasons on the Alabama Gulf Coast. It is listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. They require old-growth pine forests-usually longleaf pine-where nest cavities are excavated in living trees infected with red heart disease.
Photo by Marlene Cashen |
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Red-headed Woodpecker
(Melanerpes erythrocephalus)
These birds are noisy and sociable, the mates spending much time in playing hide-and-seek around dead trees and telephone poles and chasing one another from tree to tree.
Photo by Marlene Cashen |
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Red-headed Woodpecker
(Melanerpes erythrocephalus)
Photo by Marlene Cashen |
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Yellow-bellied Sapsucker male
(Sphyrapicus varius)
The species gets its name from its habit of drilling parallel rows of small holes in the bark of trees, which cause the sap to exude from the cambium layer. The bird then not only drinks the juice that fills the perforations, but it also eats the small insects that are attracted by the sap.
Photo by Marlene Cashen |
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Yellow-bellied Sapsucker female
(Sphyrapicus varius)
The chin and throat are red in the male and white in the female.
(photo by Terry Hartley) |
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