Date: 7/17/25 4:43 am From: Norman Budnitz (via carolinabirds Mailing List) <carolinabirds...> Subject: Re: Red-headed Woodpecker behavior, questions
Here are two paragraphs from Birds of the World, an online subscription
resource says:
Cooperative Breeding
There is only one known record of cooperative breeding in Red-headed
Woodpeckers, reported for a small, densely populated site in Illinois
(Atterberry-Jones
and Peer 2010
<https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/rehwoo/cur/references#REF64512>).
In two consecutive years, a single nest was attended and defended by 3
Red-headed Woodpecker individuals; during one year all three individuals
were observed incubating the eggs or brooding the young.
On Thu, Jul 17, 2025 at 7:08 AM Steve Thomas <stype...> wrote:
> We’ve had the pleasure of hosting Red-headed Woodpeckers nesting in our
> yard for several seasons now. Last year and this year they’ve nested in a
> dead tree where we have been able to watch them regularly.
>
> Last year there were three adults in the yard around the tree. It seemed
> that the third red-head arrived after the nest was established, and that it
> possibly was taking food to the nest along with the parents. Of course, we
> couldn’t actually distinguish the different individuals, but that was our
> impression - three adults tending the nest. So are Red-headed Woodworkers
> known to exhibit any colonial nesting tendencies, perhaps resembling
> Red-cockededs in this respect? The nest was apparently successful with two
> juveniles appearing elsewhere in the yard.
>
> This spring three Red-headed Woodpeckers arrived in our yard, two adults
> and one in late juvenile plumage - it’s head was mottled red and brown, and
> it had black interrupting the white in the wings. After a few days of
> lively interaction, only a pair remained in the yard. The interesting
> detail occurring this year, is that the juvenile was apparently one the
> parents. After what we saw last year, we at first thought the juvenile was
> a nest helper, but there was no third red-head in the yard. So the question
> here is: Do Red-headed Woodpeckers often mate with juveniles, perhaps
> resembling Orchard Orioles in this respect?
> Maybe the juvenile was the only male or female of the trio and no other
> option was available. Or I suppose the two birds in adult plumage could
> have mated, one left and the juvenile then assumed its duties? Anyway,
> we’ve seen a true, fresh juvenile here this season along with the parents,
> and everything looks good.
>
> Stephen Thomas
> Aynor, SC
>
