The Red-headed Woodpecker 
By FLORENCE MERRIAM BAILEY 
The National Association of Audubon Societies 
Educational Leaflet No. 43 
The Woodpeckers are a band of foresters most of whom spend their 
lives saving trees. Many of them do their work hidden in the dark 
forests, but the Redheads hunt largely in plain sight of passers-by. Why ? 
Because, while they devour enough enemies of the trees to deserve the 
name foresters, they are particularly fond of vegetable foods and of the 
large beetles found in open country. 
Watch one of these handsome red-headed birds on a fence. Down 
he drops to pick up an ant or a grasshopper from the ground; then up 
he shoots to catch a wasp or beetle in the air. Nor does he stop with 
fly-catching. Nutting — beech-nutting — is one of his favorite pastimes ; 
while berries, fruits, and seeds are all to his taste. 
If, in his appreciation of the good things that mankind offers, the 
Redhead on rare occasions takes a bit more of cultivated fruit or berries 
than his rightful share, his attention should be diverted by planting some 
of his favorite wild fruits, such as dogwood, mulberry, elderberry, choke- 
cherry, or wild black cherry. 
But, in judging of what is a bird’s fair share of man’s crops, many 
things should be considered. Food is bought for the ^ ^ 
Canary and other house pets ; and many persons buy g hare 
food for the wild birds, summer and winter, to bring 
them about their houses. Flowers cost something, too. But without birds 
and flowers, what would the country be ? Before raising his hand against 
a bird, a man should think of many things. A man who is unfair to a 
bird is unfair to himself. 
It would be a stingy man, indeed, who would begrudge these Wood- 
peckers their acorns and beechnuts. While the leaves are still green on 
the trees, the Redheads discover the beechnuts and go to work. “It is a 
truly beautiful sight,” Dr. Merriam says, “to watch these magnificent 
birds creeping about after the manner of warblers, among the small 
branches and twigs, which bend low with their weight, while picking and 
husking the tender nuts.” 
The nuts are not always eaten on the spot, for, like their famous 
Californian cousins, the Redheads store up food for winter use. All sorts 
of nooks and crannies serve the Redheads for storehouses — knot-holes, 
pockets under patches of raised bark, cracks between shingles and in 
fences, and even railroad-ties^. Sometimes grasshoppers and other edibles 
