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The White-barred Piculet Picumnus cirratus is a truly tiny woodpecker, only about 10 cms (4 inches) in size - North America’s smallest woodpecker, the Downy Picoides pubescens, is a comparative giant at around 16 - 18 cm (6.5 - 7 inches). It’s found in three disjunct areas of South America: the Guianas; around the mouth [...]

Photo left copyright Karoline Mena (karomc80@yahoo.com)

Endemic to Puerto Rico and Vieques (and formerly recorded on the Virgin Islands) the rather lovely Puerto Rican Woodpecker Melanerpes portoricensis (Carpintero de Puerto Rico in Spanish) is one of four endemic species of the Melanerpes genus that occur in the Greater Antilles (the others being the Hispaniolan M. striatus, [...]

Wow!  In my walk in Forest Park this morning I was shocked and amazed to hear and then see a Pileated Woodpecker!  They are not at all expected in Queens, and though I have seen Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Downy Woodpeckers, Hairy Woodpeckers, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, and Northern Flickers in Queens I had never spotted a Pileated Woodpecker [...]

To the consummate birder, travel equals opportunity. Any trip, be it for business, pleasure, or obligation, opens the door to the possibility of new birds. Some will be ones you’ve never seen while others just haven’t been seen for a while. In either instance, the consummate birder acts swiftly and decisively to maximize the birding [...]

While watching the birds at the feeders in Prospect Park on Sunday I heard a couple of blackbirds call to each other as they flew overhead.  I was pretty sure they were Red-winged Blackbirds but I wanted a look to make sure so I grabbed my stuff and followed to where I was pretty sure [...]

Red-bellied Woodpeckers Melanerpes carolinus
Eastern North America
 
Red-bellied Woodpeckers are found in the eastern half of the United States, extending 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. Populations appear to be increasing [...]

As long as the ivory-bill’s existence remains ambiguous, North America’s reigning woodpecker must be the Pileated Woodpecker.  This hulking beauty, black and white with a preposterously scarlet crest, is a most pleasing presence across much of the United States and Canada. That crazy coiffure along with its whinnying laugh betray this bird’s claim to fame [...]

Waking up early was easy on my last day in Greifswald as I had slept well after over imbibing a bit the previous night (apparently whenever you order food or drinks or look like you need one proprietors of restaurants in Greifswald give you a free shot). Hendrik and I met up at a [...]

Acorn Woodpeckers Melanerpes formicivorus
Guadalupe Oak Grove Park, California.
16 June 2006
Found from northwestern Oregon, California, the American Southwest, and western Mexico through the Central American highlands and into the northern Andes of Colombia, the beautiful (and noisy) Acorn Woodpecker prefers mixed pine-oak woodlands where oak trees are plentiful (including urban parks and suburban areas that possess [...]

Since I decided in June to make this year as big a birding year as possible in New York State I have been putting far too much effort into finding species that, seemingly, do not want to be found. Especially the two woodpeckers, American Three-toed and Black-backed, that in New York State occur only [...]

About a month ago, I was singing the praises of some ravishing redheads I ran into on Long Island. Those fine specimens showed rich auburn, the color one usually means when describing heads of red. Well, I just met a redhead flashing a shade of crimson found only in a bottle or, better yet, on [...]