Stats

Lifespan

10-12 yrs

Size

Medium

Diet

Omnivore

Activity

Diurnal

Social

Pair

Biome

Temperate forest

Range

North America

Movement

Climbing

Breeding

Egg-laying

Defense

Camouflage

Status

Common

About

A vivid zebra-backed woodpecker of eastern North American woodlands, with a bright red cap and nape. Despite the name, its faint blush-pink belly patch is barely visible in the field — birders usually identify it by the black-and-white barred back instead.

Life cycle

1. 1.
   egg

   A clutch of eggs is incubated in the nest, kept warm by a brooding parent until the chicks pip free.
2. 2.
   hatchling

   A naked or downy hatchling is fed in the nest by its parents.
3. 3.
   juvenile

   A feathered juvenile fledges from the nest and learns to fly and forage.
4. 4.
   adult

   Fully grown with adult plumage.

Learn more

• View on iNaturalist →

Taxonomy

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Aves

Order

Piciformes

Family

Picidae

Genus

Melanerpes

Species

Melanerpes carolinus