Subject: Red-headed woodpecker, Melanerpes erythrocephalus

Location: Leroy Percy State Park, Mississippi

Stock Number: 04-0625

Comments: In my native state of Mississippi these birds are a common sight. In Upshur County, West Virginia, where I now live, they are scarce enough to get birders very excited when one is spotted. In Upshur County, as in so many many areas, this species was once common but has suffered from habitat loss.

Red-headed woodpeckers like open fields with dead trees nearby.

This one was photographed in the Delta in Mississippi.