Birds of the Upper Cumberland Region: Species Accounts

Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus)

Red-bellied Woodpecker [ventro-lateral view of adult male]: Photograph Credit: Stephen J. Stedman; Lakeland Drive, Putnam County, Tennessee; 9 May 2018.

Abundance: Common during all seasons; records in all Regional counties (Map of UCR Distribution); data from the Regional bird-monitoring efforts reveal a stable, or possibly increasing, trend in the population residing in the Region (see also Regional Bird-Monitoring Plan).

Status: Permanent Resident; specimen (10 June 1938; Monticello, Wayne County, Kentucky; W. M. Perrygo; Wetmore 1940); photograph (lateral view of female] (Stephen J. Stedman; City Lake, Putnam County, Tennessee; 26 February 2012); photograph [dorsal view of male] (Stephen J. Stedman; City Lake, Putnam County, Tennessee; 26 February 2012).

Regional High Count and FBC/FBB High Count: 154 (4 October 2008, White County, Tennessee [FBC]; m. ob.); CBC/CBB High Count: 126 (18 December 2010; Putnam County, Tennessee [Cookeville CBC]; m. ob.); SBC/SBB High Count: 122 (10 May 2008; Putnam County, Tennessee [SBC]; m. ob).

Breeding: Confirmed (Recent). 

Habitat: woodlands, especially those with a large component of oaks and hickories, the mast from which is an important food resource that sustains this woodpecker through the winter months. In years of low mast production, a part of local populations may abandon some breeding habitat in the Region in search of more mast-rich sites (see results of WRS in Putnam County during 1991 [link in Remarks—below]).

YardWatch Results 2003 and 2004: Registered on 103 (of 125) monthly check-lists during 2003 and on 197 (of 206) check-lists during 2004, leading to YardWatch frequency classifications of Common during each year, results that are in reasonable agreement with the overall Regional abundance classification of this woodpecker.

Foray Results: A summary of data from UCR Forays follows (to view a map displaying foray data for a county or a sub-Region for this species, click on the name of an underlined county or state below):

* Because some foray blocks fall into two or three counties, the total of blocks in the Kentucky or Tennessee portions of the Region is less than the sum of the blocks in the counties of each portion of the Region; similarly, because some blocks fall into both states, the total of blocks for the Region is less than the sum of the blocks in the two states.

Remarks: The most abundant of the Regional woodpeckers, the Red-belly must be considered common, but results from the Regional foray effort show it to be fairly thinly distributed.

    Curiously, Red-belly abundance increased steadily on Winter Roadside Surveys (WRS) in Putnam County 1991–2011 but not on Summer Roadside Surveys (SRS) in the same county 1991–2006 (LINK to WRS; LINK to SRS).

Check-lists of Birds for the Counties of the UCR

Check-lists of the birds of each county of the Upper Cumberland Region may be viewed by clicking on the links below. For each county, there are two check-lists: one list that shows the species that have been observed and where possible documented in the county within the larger list for the entire Region; and one list that includes only the species observed in the county with annotations for the date and observers for at least one sighting (the ultimate goal of the latter list will be to include annotations for the very first known Regional observation of each species in that county; this goal is probably one that will take many years to complete, if completion is even a possibility). To see if the species discussed in this species account has been observed in a county, click below or click on the link for the Map of UCR Distribution near the top of the page.

Check-lists of Birds for Some Public Access Birding Sites of the UCR

Check-lists of the birds of some public access birding sites within the Upper Cumberland Region may be viewed via the links below. To see if the species dealt with in this species account has been observed within any of these sites, click on the appropriate link below. See the pages for each county within the Gazetteer for links to additional smaller public access birding sites with check-lists in progress.

Literature Cited