Ishita Jain, Martin Luther King
Middlesex County
Second Place, Middlesex County, Red-headed Woodpecker (c) Ishita Jain
The Red-headed Woodpecker
Hello! I am Reed, a female Red-headed Woodpecker. If you are a scientist you will probably say I belong to the family Melanerpes erythrocephalus. Oops! That's so complicated. I am a medium sized bird as you can see, about 7.5-9.1in or 19-23 cm.
I am smaller than a Northern Flicker, about the same size of a Hairy Woodpecker. I have bright red head, neck, throat, and shoulder. My wings are bluish -black. So, is my tail! have a white belly and a white area on my rump. Have a long beak, which is good for making holes in trees. When was young, looked similar to what I look now only I was brown on my head and neck. My husband does not look much different from me.
We live in the beautiful state of New Jersey, wherever there are woodlands, with oak or beech trees. We are very "green", as we recycle and make our nests in dead or dying trees, river bottoms, burned areas, beaver swamps, orchards, parks. We also live in farmland, grasslands which have scattered trees, forest edges, and roadsides. Love to eat fruits and seeds. Also like to eat insects like cicadas, midges, honeybees, beetles, and grasshoppers. Sometimes, we adult woodpeckers like to eat Purple Martins and Bluebirds' eggs and nestlings, make, and occasionally adult birds. They’re all so YUMMY!!!
Like other living beings, we grow by breeding. Our breeding season is from April to July, in warm-weather. Both of us build the nests. I lay about 3-10 eggs. I incubate them for about 8 to 10 days. My babies leave the nest when they are 24 to 31days old.
Every now and then, I have to face the harsh realities of this world. I am threatened because people µse my beautiful, red feathers to put on women hats and make them beautiful. It is so sad that humans kill beautiful birds like me to make themselves Beautiful. I wish they could make some beautiful bird houses for me to protect me instead of killing me.
Also, farmers kill me and my friends and family because they think we damage fruit and berry crops. Look, more fruits and berries are wasted after they are harvested, so there is no need to kill me if I picked a few •The farmers can just scare me away. Lastly, I am threatened because people cut down the trees in which I make my nest. They think the trees are worn down or they want to build something new. Would you like if some()ne broke your home? Probably not. So, could you tell them not to remove dead trees so that I can make my nest in it?
Can you help me to tell everybody to protect me and my habitat? Thanks for listening and helping to spread the word! Good bye...•Qweer Qweer Qweer!
Written by: Ishita Jain
Martin Luther King, Piscataway, New Jersey
Teacher: Ms. Leslie Russell