Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus)

Seasonal Body Weight Variation in Five Species of Woodpeckers

“…In contrast, none of the other populations considered here regularly stores food. Of the four species, food caching is best documented in the Red-bellied Woodpecker (Kilham 1963, Shackelford et al 2000; however, this species does not appear to store food in south Florida (Breitwisch 1977), nor has food storage been observed in the more northerly Florida population studied here (ELW and MSS, pers. obs.).…”

Range expansion and the breakdown of Bergmann's Rule in Red-Bellied Woodpeckers (Melanerpes carolinus)

“…To address this question we simultaneously examined range dynamics and morphological evolution of the Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) in North America on decade to century time scales using three long term data sets: National Audubon Society North American Christmas Bird Counts (CBC), United States Geological Survey Breeding Bird Surveys (BBS), and specimen data from North American natural history museums. Redbellied Woodpeckers are non-migratory and are currently considered monotypic (Short 1982, Shackelford et al 2000, although four subspecies were recognized by the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU; 1957) based on the work of Burleigh and Lowery (1944) and Koelz (1954). These authors focused mostly on plumage differences but geographic variability in bill length and wing length is known to occur.…”