The Red-cockaded Woodpecker is about the size of a Northern Cardinal. Its back is barred with black and white horizontal stripes and it has a black cap and nape that encircle large white cheek patches.
Rarely visible, except during the breeding season and periods of territorial defense, the male has a small red streak on each side of its black cap called a 'cockade', hence its name.
Historically, the RCW's range extended in the southeastern United States from Florida to New Jersey and Maryland, as far west as eastern Texas and Oklahoma, and inland to Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Today it is estimated that there are about 5,000 groups of red-cockaded woodpeckers, or 12,500 birds, from Florida to Virginia and west to southeast Oklahoma and eastern Texas, representing only about 1% of the woodpecker's original population.
This week's featured t-shirt is our Save the Red-cockaded Woodpecker design on a Men's Basic Dark T-Shirt. The male Red-cockaded Woodpecker has a small red streak on the side of its head, called a cockade, which gives the species its name. These woodpecker live in the... Read more »
The Red-cockaded Woodpecker is a beautiful bird, with its black and white striped back, black cap and nape and large white cheek patches. Unfortunately, it is an endangered species and the 5,000 groups of RCWs still left, or 12,500 birds from Florida to Virginia and west to... Read more »
