by Lydia Holley October 5, 2020
In East Texas, woodpeckers are fairly common. Still, in our household, we always delight at the sight of a bird with red on its head. Having seen a pileated woodpecker several years ago, but not since, we suspected one had returned because we heard its distinctive knocks. We were now on the hunt to make a sighting. According to Texas Parks and Wildlife, the following woodpeckers make their home in East Texas. I have grouped them according to size.
The downy woodpecker is the smallest of these, being around the size of a sparrow. Yellow-bellied sapsuckers and red-cockaded woodpeckers are both the size of a bluebird. Yellow-bellied sapsuckers have the most comical name, sometimes used as an insulting label. The best part of using this woodpecker’s name as an insult is you can use it in front of your children. True to its name, it has a small amount of yellow on its belly. If you’ve never heard of red-cockaded woodpeckers, that is because they are endangered.
Hairy woodpeckers, red-headed woodpeckers, and red-bellied woodpeckers are all the size of a robin. The red-headed woodpeckers are my favorite bird to see because they have an entirely red head with a black body except for a well-defined stripe of white. As my husband says, “they look dressed-up.” Hairy woodpeckers look a lot like downy woodpeckers, but they are bigger. They are considered uncommon. Red-bellied woodpeckers have a patch of red on their belly.
Northern flickers are the size of a blue jay. You might notice these birds along the ground instead of in a tree since ants are a preferred food of theirs.
Pileated woodpeckers are the size of a crow. This type of woodpecker was made famous by the cartoon figure Woody Woodpecker. However, some sources state Woody is based on an acorn woodpecker, a type of woodpecker which does not call East Texas home. Our patience and pursuits were rewarded with a few glimpses of a pileated woodpecker in our back yard, confirming our suspicions. A few days ago, it was so engrossed with pecking out insects, my husband had the opportunity to grab the camera and take the picture you see accompanying this article.
At around three inches bigger than a pileated woodpecker, the largest woodpecker to ever grace East Texas’ woods was the ivory-billed woodpecker. It looks a lot like the pileated woodpecker except it has a large chunk of white on its wings and females have a black crest instead of the usual red. Unfortunately, this type of woodpecker may be extinct. It was last seen in Cuba in the 1980’s.
While you’re outside gardening, take a look around. You might see a flash of red or hear the tat-tat-tat of these amazing birds. Who knows? Your pursuit of the pileated woodpecker might pay off.