Woodpeckers: Everything You Need To Know

Woodpeckers usually forage for the fruits from fruit and berry bushes. They can also consume fruits from platform feeders provided by many backyard birders. Woodpeckers eat lots of different foods depending on what’s available and in season. Some of these foods include insects, nuts and seeds, tree sap, suet, and fruit, though some woodpeckers may also eat other birds if they are hungry enough. During the summer, woodpeckers may sip tree sap or nectar from bird feeders.

Forgoing chemical insecticides is also a thoughtful way to provide the woodpeckers in your area with plenty of food. Feeding woodpeckers can be a rewarding experience that helps with their survival and enhances backyard birdwatching. By providing the right food types, you will be able to attract various woodpecker species.

When it comes to woodpecker diet, they don’t eat the same food all year round. They change their diet depending on the season and the most abundant food sources. When these insects are not abundant in the wild, they eat various fruits and berries.

Most move from north to south since winters are warmer near the equator, while others may simply move to lower elevations to avoid harsh mountain weather. Others, like the Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus), are far more adaptable but cannot survive in all parts of their range in every season. Like so many other birds, they solve this problem by migrating. Unless you live ‘down under,’ chances are good there’s a Woodpecker near you. Gripping a tree trunk and pounding away with your bill requires grip and bracing.

Widespread across the eastern half of North America, these birds are one of just four species in the Sphyrapicus genus. The Pileated Woodpecker is an impressive bird by all accounts. As the largest American representative of the Picidae family, they are twice the weight of any other surviving woodpecker in the United States.

The Greater Spotted Woodpecker is the UK’s most common Woodpecker species, and also it’s most boldly marked. These vivid black, white, and red birds are similar in pattern but much larger and more numerous than the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. They are not songbirds (passerines), but they do produce calls to attract mates, reinforce their bonds, express alarm, and ward off enemies. Some Check this for Climate change and animal diets species are highly vocal before nesting, and their calls can be a great way to track them down. The ability to chisel out a hole into wood allows these birds to create ideal nesting spaces that are sheltered from wind, rain, and most large predators. Adult Woodpeckers benefit from getting out of the elements too, and most will excavate a chamber specifically for roosting at night.

As their name suggests, these woodpeckers are known for their affinity towards tree sap. However, they also consume other food sources like insects, fruits, and seeds. They’ll feast on carpenter ants, which can help keep their populations in check. The Pileated Woodpeckers are one of the largest woodpecker species out there in the USA and Canada. They mainly eat insects, especially wood-boring beetle larvae, and carpenter ants by drilling a large oblong hole. As hummingbird feeders usually have small feeding ports, woodpeckers cannot insert their beaks into the feeder.

With a body length of over 12 inches (30 cm), the Green Woodpecker is the largest British species. Like the Northern Flicker of the New World, Green Woodpeckers deviate from the norm in both color and feeding habits. They also feed on ants on the ground, and they are mostly green rather than black and white. The boldly marked Downy Woodpecker is a familiar little bird of forests, woodlands, and backyards across the United States and Canada.

According to the National Wildlife Federation, they sometimes eat small fish, tree frogs, and insects, including grasshoppers, caterpillars, ants, flies, and beetle larvae. Woodpeckers are adaptable birds that manage to thrive across various habitats by utilizing different food sources depending on the season and availability. They also consume seeds, nuts, acorns, pecans, beechnuts, berries, cultivated fruits, and wild fruits. They occasionally visit suet feeders, especially in the coldest months.

If you watch closely, you might even spot these birds pecking at the dirt to access underground nests. Suet feeders are an excellent way to feed woodpeckers with different suet recipes, including suet cakes and suet blocks. These feeders for woodpeckers should be upside-down so that other birds cannot eat from the feeders. They drill holes to store their acorns (thousands of acorns in a single tree).