It is rated as least concern on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)'s Red List of Endangered species, having been down-listed from near threatened in 2018.

The English naturalist Mark Catesby described and illustrated the red-headed woodpecker in his book The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, which was published between 1729 and 1732.

He included the red-headed woodpecker and coined the binomial name Picus erythrocephalus, citing Catesby's book.

[8] Adults are distinctly tricolored, with a black back and tail, a white belly and rump, and a red head and neck.

The red-headed woodpecker is omnivorous, eating insects, seeds, fruits, berries, nuts, and occasionally small rodents―even the eggs of other birds.

[14] During the breeding season, a mature male red-headed woodpecker will establish a territory and begin calling and drumming to attract a mate.

The red-headed woodpecker was returned to a designation of least concern on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)'s Red List of Endangered Species in 2018, having been downgraded to near threatened in 2004 after it appeared to have experienced a 65.5% decline in population over 40 years.

[20] Most of the decline in red-headed Woodpeckers can be attributed to loss of habitat and the competition for nesting cavities with the invasive European starling.

[2] The red-headed woodpecker was historically a common species in southern Canada and the east-central United States.

Consistent long-term population declines have resulted in red-headed woodpecker's threatened status in Canada and several states in the US.

Factors attributed to the red-headed woodpecker's decline include loss of overall habitat and, within habitats, loss of standing dead wood required for nest sites,[22] limitations in food supply,[23] and possible nest-site competition with other cavity nesters such as European starlings or red-bellied woodpeckers.

[24][25] In 1996, the United States Postal Service issued a 2-cent postage stamp depicting a perched red-headed woodpecker.