Red-cockaded woodpecker

Red-cockaded woodpeckers live in family groups, in which young males stay to help their parents raise the next broods. They drill nest cavities in living old pines, taking months or years to finish one, and keep sap flowing around the entrance to deter rat snakes.

This is the only North American woodpecker that excavates cavities in living pines. Its holes are later used by many other animals. It became endangered as old longleaf pine forests were logged, and it recovered enough — where forests are managed with fire and given artificial cavities — to be reclassified as threatened in 2024. Georgia's pine forests are important to its future.

Nest — A cavity in a living pine, surrounded by resin wells
Eggs — Usually three or four
Incubation — About 10 to 11 days, one of the shortest of any bird
Chicks — Fed by the parents and helpers
Flight — At about 26 days
Family — Young males often stay as helpers
Lifespan — Wild birds over fifteen years are recorded

• Cavity trees are marked in managed forests and must not be disturbed.
• Prescribed fire keeps the open pine forests they need.

• Woodpeckers only nest in dead trees. Red-cockaded woodpeckers nest in living pines.

• Downy woodpecker
• Brown-headed nuthatch
• Bachman's sparrow