The Red-bellied Woodpecker is the zebra-backed woodpecker with the flaming red cap — and one of the most misleadingly named birds in Michigan, since the faint rosy wash on its belly is nearly impossible to see in the field. Males wear red from bill to nape; females from nape only. The rolling "churr" call carries through hardwoods all year.
A southern species historically, the Red-bellied has pushed steadily north through Michigan over the past half-century and is now a common feeder bird through most of the Lower Peninsula. They wedge acorns into bark crevices for winter and can extend their barbed, sticky tongue nearly two inches past the bill tip.
A generalist: insects and spiders from bark, plus acorns, nuts, and wild fruit — more plant food than most woodpeckers take. At feeders they favor suet, peanuts, and sunflower, and occasionally sip nectar.
The name follows formal naming rules — "Red-headed Woodpecker" was already taken by a different species with an entirely crimson head. The Red-bellied really does have a reddish belly wash; you'll just rarely see it.
Relatively. They were once mostly a southern bird, but they've expanded north dramatically since the mid-1900s and now occur through most of the Lower Peninsula, aided by feeders and maturing woodlots.
A rich, rolling "churr-churr" — the Red-bellied's signature. They call year-round, which makes them one of the easier woodpeckers to find by ear.
Yes, in any month. Numbers stay fairly steady from month to month. Winter is often the easiest time to find them, with bare branches, open sightlines, and snow cover concentrating birds at reliable food.
Juveniles have a plain grayish-brown head with no red at all and a dark bill, which sends a lot of them to the 'unknown woodpecker' pile. The red crown grows in over their first fall and winter.
Other birds you might be looking at instead.
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