Red-bellied Woodpecker: A "one-bird-band"

Some people can identify a specific species of woodpecker by the sound of the bird’s drumming. I’m not one of these people. But when I hear something drumming in the woods, I know it’s probably a woodpecker. Not much to brag about but something—ha! Well, the other day while walking near the woodland adjacent to my property, I heard an array of musical sounds, as if the singer (or singers) were practicing an entire repertoire. I heard short bouts of a high-pitched rolling “purr” (for lack of a better descriptor), followed by something that sounded like the tiny bark of a Chihuahua. But that’s not all. Into the mix add all manner of throaty gurgles and growls and maybe you’ll get an idea of what I stood listening to—in utter delight, I might add. (Photo courtesy of Ken Thomas.)

Something told me that the noisy bird (or birds) was a woodpecker. Off in the distance, I then heard a drum roll—definitely a woodpecker, and probably one commenting on the performance of the bird (or birds) closest to me. Actually, if not for this bird’s bizarre range of sounds, I would have immediately identified him as the Red-bellied Woodpecker because I know the Kwirr call of this species. (What I refer to above as the rolling "purr.") But in each of my prior encounters with the Red-bellied, I’d only ever heard the one sound—the Kwirr call. Thus I wasn’t prepared for the more full range of that bird’s vocalizations.

As I always do now when attempting to identify a bird by sound, I went to the Cornell Lab’s web site All About Birds, selecting their option, “Browse by Name and Shape.” This is a great resource, which lists all birds of a common type together. Thus I can select “woodpeckers” and see a long list of North American woodpecker species, which I can then compare by sight and sound! This is an amazing help.

On listening to the audio for the Red-bellied Woodpecker, I identified my bird but more, I had the opportunity to listen to its many different sounds, preparing me better for my next encounter. Oh, by the way, remember that Chihuahua sound I mentioned? Apparently that’s the bird’s “Cha call,” something new I learned from the web site.

Till next time . . . Keep birds in your heart!

Georgia Anne