(Please see picture gallery below – if you have any pix please send to sheilaelliot@yahoo.com!) …

October Bird of the Month, concluding our woodpecker series, is the Red-headed Woodpecker, another fairly scarce bird locally, although some have been sighted recently in previously unexpected locales. “Melanerpes erythrocephalis” is a striking bird — the scientific name means “red-headed black creeper” bird, which isn’t too far from reality. Don’t confuse our common Red-bellied Woodpecker, with its blaze of red across the crown, with the true red-headed woodpecker. It only takes one look at a “true” red-headed woodpecker to understand that each bird has the right name: the red-headed’s WHOLE HEAD is red, while the red-bellied only has a red “mohawk.”

One excellent comparison of the two species, among several out there on the web, can be found at http://tnwatchablewildlife.org/similarspeciesdetails.cfm?uid=12072515393780573

If you’re wondering why they aren’t particularly common here in increasingly urbanized and developed south Florida, read the species description at www.audubon.org : “These woodpeckers are fond of open agricultural country with groves of dead and dying trees, particularly orchards… Red-headed Woodpeckers frequently are driven off by aggressive European Starlings, which occupy their nest holes, and by the removal of dead trees.” Come to our October meeting to hear more about this fascinating bird from our expert, Clive Pinnock.

(Photographer’s please note that next month’s October 2013 Bird will be the Wild Turkey)