Birds of Texas

Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes Carolinas) 9 1/4"

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 Photographs - © Walter Bauer, Sugar Land, Texas - 1998

Field Marks: A 'zebra-backed' woodpecker with a white rump, pale underparts, red cap. Whole crown and nape are scarlet red in the male. The female is red on nape only. Juvenal is patterned like adult but has a brown head, often devoid of red.
Voice: Note is a churr or chaw; also, chiv, chiv. Also has a muffled flicker-like series.
Where found: Great Lakes area to Florida and Gulf Coast.
Texas: Resident from East Texas west to the Panhandle, San Angelo and Austin and south to the central coast.

Habitat: Woodlands, groves, towns.

Nest: In hole in a tree. Eggs are (4-5) white.