5 1/2 Woodpeckers in Massachusetts (Pictures, ID Guide, and Common Locations)

Imagine that you’re walking through the woods in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. You delight in the calm and beauty surrounding you, before hearing a tap-tap-tapping. After looking around, you determine it’s coming from a dead tree standing amidst a grove of pines. You raise your binoculars and see a bird with mostly black, white, and red plumage clinging to the trunk of the dead tree. You know it’s a woodpecker, for what other bird clings to rotted trees and drills with its beak? But what kind of woodpecker is it? There are a surprising number of woodpeckers in Massachusetts. We list a few of them below.

1. Northern Flicker

This woodpecker, Colaptes auratus, is easy to distinguish because it’s the only one that has a white rump and a laddered, grayish-brown back. The male’s head is especially beautiful, for its mostly tan, with a gray crown, a black mustache, and a spot of red on the back of the neck. He also has a black bib, a spotted belly, and a black tail tip. The northern flicker is between 11.8 and 13.8 inches long, with a 21-inch wingspan, 4.7-inch-long tail, and 1.6-inch-long bill. It weighs about 4.23 ounces. You’ll also notice that it has a lovely, swooping flight and one of its calls probably gives the bird its name. It sounds sort of like “flickaflickaflicka.”

You’ll find the northern flicker in woods that have a good number of dead trees, especially pines and willows. They’re also found at the edges of forests and woods that have been burned or clear cut and on farms and in people’s backyards. They sometimes go to ground to feed on fallen nuts, seeds, and insects, which makes them vulnerable to predation by hawks and other birds of prey. Raccoons and squirrels are also fond of their chicks.

Known to Nest in Telephone Poles

Northern flickers breed from February to July. They build their nests in the trunks of dead or dying trees and have even been known to excavate nests in telephone poles. They also appreciate a nest box. The female lays between three and 12 bright white eggs. Since the breeding season is so long, a pair may have more than one clutch. The eggs hatch after 11 to 16 days. The chicks stay in the nest for a little less than a month but are fed by both parents for a longer time. They start to get their grown-up plumage in summer.

The yellow-shafted flicker, Colaptes auratus (auratus), is a subspecies of the northern flicker. When the male spreads his wings, he reveals a yellow underside.

2. Pileated Woodpecker

Though the northern flicker is big for a woodpecker, the pileated woodpecker, Dryocopus pileatus is even larger. This bird is 16 to 19 inches long, with a 26-to-30-inch wingspan. It weighs between 7.9 and 14.1 ounces, and females are a little smaller than males. This woodpecker is quite distinctive because it has a brilliant red crest, a black body, and a white stripe down each side of the throat. Males also have a red stripe from beak to throat, while females have a black stripe. When the bird flies you can see flashes of white on the wings. Its flight is strong and direct, though it also swoops the way most woodpeckers do.

Resembles a Woodpecker That May Be Extinct

The only woodpecker in the United States that looks like the pileated is the now-extinct ivory-billed woodpecker.

For breeding, the pileated woodpecker prefers temperate, mature hardwood forests and parks with lots of tall, mature trees. This may be because the males excavate quite large nests in dead trees, and a tree that’s too small may actually snap in two. The nests may also have more than one entrance. Pileated woodpeckers are good at excavating nests because they’re not only big birds, but their bills are chisel shaped. They don’t return to their nests after they raise their chicks, and this makes the nest a home for other birds in the future. However, during the breeding season, the woodpeckers defend their territory aggressively.

The female lays about four eggs, and both parents incubate the eggs. Though both parents incubate during the day, the male incubates at night as well. The eggs hatch between 12 and 16 days, and the chicks stay in the nest for about a month.

Pileated woodpeckers are omnivores, though they mostly take insects, especially ants and the grubs of wood-boring beetles. They’ll also eat nuts, fruit, and berries and have no problem eating the berries of poison ivy. They’ll also visit feeding stations and come to ground to find insects, though this makes them vulnerable to attack by birds of prey.

3. Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker

This woodpecker with the somewhat unfortunate common name spends its breeding season in the forests of Massachusetts and other northern parts and winters in the forests, forest edges, and semi-open areas down south. Sphyrapicus varius is a medium-sized woodpecker that’s around 7.5 to 8.25 inches long with a 13.5-to-15.75-inch wingspan and a weight of 1.2 to 2.2 ounces. The male has a red throat and red on the top of its otherwise black and white head. You can tell him from the female because she has white around her throat. Both sexes have a black back, white rump, white wing panels, and white tips on the wings. There’s also the distinctive yellow belly, though it’s a paler yellow in the females. Subadult woodpeckers are brownish until the end of winter.

Nests in Live Trees

The yellow-bellied sapsucker is different from some other woodpeckers in that it excavates nests in live trees. They prefer birch ad poplars, and both sexes drill. They also tap on the tree to signal to each other. Eventually, the female lays four to seven eggs, and like other woodpeckers, both parents incubate the eggs, which hatch after 12 to 13 days. Both mom and dad feed the chicks. Chicks must be fed frequently, round the clock, to grow properly. They’ll fledge within a month after hatching.

These woodpeckers are especially communicative. They drum on dead, hollow trees to send messages and have a repertoire of calls from “quirks” to “weeks” to “wurps” to shrieking alarm calls to cat-like mewls. They also display to each other, either to entice a mate or warn off a rival.

Despite the name, the yellow-bellied sapsucker mostly eats insects, though it will eat fruits and berries. When its usual sources of food are scarce, that’s when the bird will sip sap from a variety of trees, including pine, fir, maple, willow, birch, and hickory.

4. Red-Headed Woodpecker

The red-headed woodpecker, Melanerpes erythrocephalus, is easy to see because of its brilliantly red head and neck. This red contrasts beautifully with the bird’s white belly and rump and its glossy black wings, tail, and back. You’ll see patches of white on the wings when the bird flies. Unlike the other woodpeckers on this list, the male and female look alike. As medium-sized woodpeckers, they’re about 7.5 to 9.8 inches long, have a 16.7-inch-long wingspan, and weigh from 2.0 to 3.4 ounces. Their bill is shaped like a chisel and is around 0.83 to 1.18 inches long.

The best way to catch a glimpse of the red-headed woodpecker is to go to the edge of the forest, an orchard, an open wood, or a savanna. During the breeding season, red-headed woodpeckers prefer trees that are big and mature.

Eager Omnivores

Though red-headed woodpeckers excavate nests in large, dead trees, they can also nest under eaves, in telephone poles, or in fence posts. The female lays between three and 10 eggs, which hatch after about two weeks. Like other woodpeckers, both parents incubate the eggs. The female incubates during the day, and the male takes over at night. This woodpecker might have two broods a year. Though the chicks leave their nest after about a month, they hang around their parents to be fed. Eventually, the parents get tired of them and chase them off, especially if they’re raising a new brood.

Red-headed woodpeckers are omnivores and eat insects, spiders, other small invertebrates, plant material, and even tiny rodents if they can catch them. They’ve even been known to rob the eggs or chicks of other birds. These birds are also one of the very few species of woodpecker that cache their food. They stuff the food in cavities and holes beneath tree bark. They tap, drum, and use a range of calls to communicate with each other.

5. Hairy Woodpecker

A bit larger than the yellow-bellied sapsucker, this bird is about 9.8 inches long with a 15-inch wingspan. Scientists are not quite settled on its scientific name, which can be Leuconotopicus villosus, Picoides villosus, or Dryobates villosus. Villosus, at least, is Latin for “hairy.”

Why is this woodpecker considered “hairy?” It’s because of the long, white “hairs” that run down the middle of its back, which are easily seen because the bird’s back is black. Other than this, the hairy woodpecker is 9 to 10 inches long, with a 13-to-17-inch wingspan and weighs between 1.4 and 3.4 ounces. Its wings are black but have white spots or streaks, and there is a white bar above the eye and a matching bar below. Males have a patch of red at the back of their head, or twin red patches. Younger males have red crowns, but females do not have any red on their heads.

Hairy Woodpeckers Love Gypsy Moth Caterpillars

The breeding season is long and begins in winter. Sometimes females have territories and drum on hollow trees to attract males. When he’s accepted, he is the one who excavates the nest in a dead tree or a dead part of a live tree. The female lays between two and five eggs, and both parents incubate them. They hatch in about 14 days, and the chicks are ready to leave the nest after about a month.

The bulk of the hairy woodpecker’s diet is made up of insects, especially caterpillars. They are especially partial to gypsy moths, and they do much to keep down the populations of this pest. If a woodpecker suspects an insect is hiding beneath the bark of a tree, it’ll drill until it finds it and may even destroy buds to get at the meal. The bird also has a nice repertoire of calls and sounds, including rattles, “peeks” “brrps” and “kweeks” as well as drumming and tapping.

5.5. The Downy Woodpecker

The plumage of the downy woodpecker, Dryobates pubescens, and the hairy woodpecker is almost identical, except the downy woodpecker may have white markings on its black tail. It’s also a little smaller and a little less shy. Interestingly, the downy and hairy woodpeckers aren’t close relatives. The hairy woodpecker may not even belong to the same genus as the downy. Their similarities are the result of convergent evolution. This is when two different species evolve to look or behave the same way.