How to Help Red-headed Woodpeckers 2018

On July 11 2018 I found these red-headed woodpeckers nesting in a dead elm tree on our farm near Mitchell South Dakota. Unlike most woodpeckers, the male and the female red-headed woodpecker look exactly alike. I’m sure there are young in the nest as the parents are taking turns entering the hole. The young must be pretty small yet as there is no visible insect being brought to the nest. At this stage the parents regurgitate all of the food for the chicks.
The redheaded woodpecker population has declined 70% since the mid 1960s and continues to decline. There are a few things landowners can do to help the red-headed woodpecker. One is to create habitat. I’ve been killing the many Siberian elm trees growing on our farm. They are a nuisance tree, but as a standing dead tree they make great woodpecker habitat. I’ve been planting locally collected bur oaks to replace the elm trees as red-headed woodpeckers love acorns. Another thing you can do is eliminate the unprotected invasive European starlings. They compete aggressively with red-headed woodpeckers. We’ve been shooting and trapping them. Since locally reducing the starling population, the red-headed woodpeckers have nested successfully two years in a row on the farm. Hopefully by implementing these improvements there will be more pairs of red-headed woodpeckers nesting on our farm in southeast South Dakota.