Louisiana is home to at least eight woodpecker species, ranging from the tiny downy woodpecker to the crow-sized pileated woodpecker. Whether you’re trying to identify the bird hammering on a tree in your yard, attract woodpeckers to a feeder, or figure out how to stop one from drilling into your house, here’s what you need to know about the state’s woodpecker residents.
Species You’re Most Likely to See
The most common woodpecker across Louisiana’s suburbs, parks, and forests is the red-bellied woodpecker. Despite its name, the red on its belly is faint and hard to spot. What you’ll actually notice is the bright red stripe running from the back of its neck over the top of its head, plus bold black-and-white barring across its back. These birds are loud, year-round residents that readily visit feeders.
The downy woodpecker is the smallest species you’ll encounter, about the size of a sparrow. It has a wide white stripe running down the center of its back, which is the quickest way to tell it apart from a red-bellied woodpecker. Males sport a small red patch on the back of the head. The hairy woodpecker looks nearly identical to the downy but is noticeably larger, with a longer bill relative to its head size. Both species are common in wooded neighborhoods and parks statewide.
The red-headed woodpecker is one of the easiest to identify: its entire head is a deep, uniform crimson. That distinguishes it from the red-bellied woodpecker, which only has red on the crown and nape. Red-headed woodpeckers also have solid black backs rather than striped ones. They favor open woodlands with dead trees and are somewhat less common than they once were, but still present across much of the state.
The pileated woodpecker is Louisiana’s largest living woodpecker, roughly the size of a crow, with a flaming red crest and strong black-and-white facial stripes. You’ll often hear it before you see it. Its drumming is deep and slow, and it carves large rectangular holes in dead trees while searching for carpenter ants. Pileated woodpeckers live in mature forests throughout the state, including wooded suburban areas with big trees.
The northern flicker rounds out the common species list. Unlike other Louisiana woodpeckers, flickers spend a lot of time on the ground feeding on ants. They have brown-and-black barred backs and spotted bellies, giving them a very different look from the classic black-and-white woodpecker pattern. Louisiana’s flickers are the yellow-shafted variety, with bright golden-yellow feathers visible under the wings and tail during flight.
The yellow-bellied sapsucker is a winter visitor rather than a year-round resident. It arrives in fall and stays through early spring, drilling neat rows of small holes in tree bark to feed on sap. If you see orderly horizontal lines of holes on a tree trunk, a sapsucker is the likely culprit.
The Red-Cockaded Woodpecker: Louisiana’s Threatened Species
The red-cockaded woodpecker is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act and has very narrow habitat requirements. About the size of a northern cardinal, it depends on mature, living longleaf pine trees for nesting. It’s one of the only North American woodpeckers that excavates cavities in live wood, and the trees need to be old enough (typically 60 years or more) to have heartwood softened by a particular fungus. Louisiana’s longleaf pine forests have been dramatically reduced over the past two centuries, which pushed this species toward the brink.
Active conservation efforts on both public and private lands in Louisiana maintain clusters of cavity trees and manage forests with prescribed burns to keep the understory open, which these birds require. Big Branch Marsh National Wildlife Refuge on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, which spans over 18,000 acres of pine savannah and other habitats, is one location that supports a population of red-cockaded woodpeckers. Kisatchie National Forest in central Louisiana is another key stronghold.
The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker: A Louisiana Ghost Story
No discussion of Louisiana woodpeckers is complete without the ivory-billed woodpecker. This massive bird, larger even than the pileated, was last confirmed in a tract of old-growth bottomland hardwood forest in northeastern Louisiana owned by the Singer Sewing Corporation. The only scientific research ever conducted on ivory-billed woodpecker biology took place in that Singer Tract during the 1930s. Despite pleas from conservationists to save the forest, Singer logged the tract in the early 1940s to make sewing machine frames. The last confirmed bird, a female, was seen in 1944.
Hopeful sightings have surfaced from Louisiana, Arkansas, and Florida in the decades since, but none has been confirmed with definitive photographic or audio evidence. Most ornithologists now consider the species extinct. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officially proposed removing it from the endangered species list in 2023.
Where to Watch Woodpeckers in Louisiana
You don’t need to visit a remote forest to see woodpeckers in Louisiana. Red-bellied, downy, and pileated woodpeckers are common in suburban neighborhoods with mature trees across the state. Any park or greenway with standing dead wood (called snags) will attract woodpeckers, since that’s where they find insects and excavate nesting cavities.
For more dedicated birding, Big Branch Marsh National Wildlife Refuge north of New Orleans offers pine savannah, bald cypress-tupelo forest, hardwood hammocks, and marshland across 18,000 acres. It’s one of the more accessible spots to look for red-cockaded woodpeckers alongside common species. Kisatchie National Forest, the Atchafalaya Basin, and the bottomland hardwood forests along Louisiana’s major rivers are all productive habitats. Winter months add sapsuckers to the mix, and the cooler, less humid conditions make for more comfortable outings.
Attracting Woodpeckers to Your Yard
Suet is the single best food for drawing woodpeckers to a feeder. Standard suet cakes in a wire cage feeder work well for downies and red-bellied woodpeckers. Peanut feeders, either mesh tubes or log-style feeders with holes packed with peanut butter, are another strong option. Larger species like the pileated woodpecker prefer feeders mounted on or near tree trunks rather than hanging from a wire.
Beyond feeders, the most effective thing you can do is leave dead trees standing if they don’t pose a safety hazard. Snags provide both food (insects living in the decaying wood) and nesting sites. Planting native oaks, pines, and other hardwoods supports the insect populations that woodpeckers depend on year-round. Even a small cluster of mature trees can sustain a pair of downies or red-bellied woodpeckers. Keep in mind that some species, particularly the downy and hairy, are primarily interested in insects they find on their own rather than feeder food, so habitat matters more than what you put out.
Dealing With Woodpecker Damage to Your Home
If a woodpecker is drilling into your siding, the first step is figuring out why. Small, irregular holes usually mean the bird is pulling out insects. In that case, you likely have an infestation of carpenter bee larvae, leafcutter bees, or grass bagworms behind the siding, and an exterminator can address the root problem. Larger, deeper holes may be the start of a roosting or nesting cavity. Rapid, repetitive drumming on metal gutters or trim in the spring is territorial signaling, not feeding.
All woodpeckers in Louisiana are protected under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which makes it illegal to kill, capture, or harm them without a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Deterrence is your main option, and several methods work well. Shiny Mylar streamers hung near the damaged area are one of the most effective solutions. In controlled tests, the combination of reflective coating and movement in the wind completely stopped damage at half the sites tested. Pinwheels, helium balloons (especially shiny Mylar ones), strips of aluminum foil, and reflective tape can also help.
For persistent problems, bird netting stretched from the eaves to the siding creates a physical barrier. Set it at least 3 inches away from the wall so the bird can’t peck through it, and close off the sides to prevent birds from getting trapped behind the netting. Once the woodpecker has moved on, fill existing holes with wood putty to discourage further attention. If a bird has already excavated a roost hole, make sure no birds are inside before sealing it.
One important caution: avoid sticky repellent products marketed for birds. Products like Tanglefoot and similar adhesives can fatally trap or injure woodpeckers and other wildlife. They’re not worth the risk, especially given the legal protections these birds carry.