Critical habitat has not been designated. It has prominent white cheek patches. The call notes of the red-cockaded woodpecker are raspy and nasal sounding.
Clans consist of a single breeding pair, young birds, and sons of the breeding male.
The entire clan helps in territory defense. The breeding male can live for several years. When he dies, one of his sons typically inherits the breeding territory. Red-cockaded woodpeckers breed from late April to July. Red-cockaded woodpeckers eat various insects, spiders, and other invertebrates found under bark and in the dead limbs of trees.