September 15, 2011

Before the rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker, the red-cockaded woodpecker was the rarest of Arkansas’s nesting woodpeckers. Designated an endangered species in 1970, its numbers have dwindled to less than 400 birds in the state. Normally measuring between seven to eight inches in length, it is clearly distinguished from other woodpeckers by a white cheek patch. The red “cockades” on the male are usually seen only when the bird is in hand.