Part 10
Doubtless a few downy woodpeckers move southward in autumn or early in winter, especially from the northern part of the bird’s range. Dr. Charles W. Townsend in his Ipswich notes (MS.) says that he sees “evident migrants not uncommonly in October and November.” But most of our birds spend the whole year round with us, and in autumn we may watch them as they make provision for winter. Even before the leaves are off the trees--in September here in New England--we may hear, day after day as we pass a certain tree, the tapping of a downy woodpecker where, invisible from the ground, high up on a branch, it is digging out a cavity, its roosting hole, in which it will sleep alone through the long winter nights, and into which it may retreat in the daytime whenever “the frost-wind blows.”
DRYOBATES PUBESCENS NELSONI Oberholser
NELSON’S DOWNY WOODPECKER
HABITS
This large race of the downy woodpecker inhabits the wooded regions of northern Alaska and northern Canada, intergrading with _Dryobates pubescens medianus_ in southern Canada and possibly in northern New England.
Dr. H. C. Oberholser (1896a), in describing and naming it, characterizes it as “similar to _Dryobates pubescens_ [=_medianus_], but averaging larger; the under parts pure white instead of brownish; the lower tail-coverts and outer tail-feathers averaging with much less of black markings; red nuchal band of male averaging somewhat wider.”
Swainson and Richardson (1831) say: “This diminutive but exceedingly industrious Woodpecker is a constant inhabitant of the fur-countries up to the fifty-eighth parallel. It seeks its food principally on the maple, elm, and ash, and, north of latitude 54°, where these trees terminate, on the aspen and birch. Its researches are made mostly, if not wholly, on live trees.”
Dr. E. W. Nelson (1887) writes:
Throughout the Territory [Alaska] where woodland or a growth of bushes and small trees occurs the present bird is certain to be found, and is a resident winter and summer. It has been taken along the entire course of the Yukon as well as at various points on the coast of Bering Sea, and thence south at Kadiak and Sitka. In autumn it is a rather common visitant to the coast of Norton Sound in spite of the lack of timber, and it was not uncommon to see it clinging to the sides of the houses, or to the flagstaff, and other similar supports; after resting awhile, and, perhaps, tapping a few times on the unproductive logs, they would leave for a more promising field. They were seen at times passing from one alder patch to another, on the hill-sides, and they follow the spruces and other trees to the shore of the sea.
While I was camping in spring, at the Yukon mouth, these birds were rather common in the dense bushes along this stream and its tributaries. Their holes were frequently found in the decaying stubs, although I did not find a nest containing eggs. This species appears to frequent deciduous thickets and trees by preference, as, in addition to the various times which I saw it in the interior in winter, while at the Yukon mouth, I always found it about locations where only deciduous trees and bushes were found, and its holes were always made in cottonwood or birch-stubs.
Judged from what little is known about them, the nesting, food, and other habits of Nelson’s downy woodpecker do not differ materially from those of its more southern relatives, except as influenced by its different environment. Living in the far north, where trees are small and scarce, it has to be content to excavate its nest in small trees or low stumps. There are very few eggs in collections; a set of five eggs in the Thayer collection was taken from a hole 4 feet from the ground in a rotten stump, near Fort Saskatchewan, Canada, on June 10, 1898. These eggs are like other eggs of the species, pure white, ovate in shape, and somewhat glossy. The measurements of 31 eggs average 19.54 by 15.43 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =21.9= by 16.1, 19.4 by =16.4=, =17.5= by 15.0, and 18.65 by =14.28= millimeters.
DRYOBATES PUBESCENS TURATI (Malherbe)
WILLOW WOODPECKER
HABITS
The downy woodpeckers of California were for many years all called _D. p. gairdneri_, until Dr. Walter K. Fisher (1902) called attention to the smaller and lighter-colored race, which inhabits much of the coast region and nearly all the lowlands of southern California. For this race, he very properly revived Malherbe’s name, as given above, for this name was based on birds taken near Monterey. He gives as the characters of the willow woodpecker:
Smaller than _Dryobates pubescens gairdneri_, with smaller feet; under parts lighter; the elongated superciliary patch and rictal stripe extending over sides of neck, pure white, instead of smoky white of _gairdneri_; tertials always more or less spotted with white. * * *
_Dryobates pubescens turati_ is a southern representative of _gairdneri_, which it resembles in the smoky under parts and restricted areas of white on the wings, and from which it differs in its smaller size, much smaller feet, and clearer white markings of head. The present form is near true _pubescens_ of the Southern States, but differs from it in having much less white on the wings, the coverts and tertials of _pubescens_ being conspicuously and often heavily marked with white. * * *
The willow woodpecker in a typical form breeds from Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties north in the coast ranges to San Francisco Bay, and along the west slope of the Sierra Nevada at least to Yuba County. Intergradation with _gairdneri_ occurs over the coast region north of San Francisco Bay and in the mountains at the head of the Sacramento Valley.
Grinnell, Dixon, and Linsdale (1930) say of the haunts of the willow woodpecker in the Lassen Peak region: “Downy woodpeckers were seen most often close to streams and in orchards. Their forage places included the limbs or small trunks of willow, alder, cottonwood, sycamore, valley oak, blue oak, digger pine, and yellow pine trees.”
_Nesting._--Major Bendire (1895) writes: “Mr. Charles A. Allen informs me that it breeds in the oaks and willows along the Sacramento River, Calif., but that it is not common. Its breeding sites seem to be confined to deciduous trees, preferably dead ones, or old stumps, and besides those already mentioned, sycamore and cottonwoods are occasionally used. Their nesting sites are rarely found at any great distance from the ground, usually ranging from 4 to 20 feet up and rarely higher.”
W. L. Dawson (1923) says: “Willow woodpeckers, in the wild, place their nests at considerable heights in deciduous trees, and those, if possible, among thick growths on moist ground. Both sexes assist in excavation, as in incubation. Partially decayed wood is selected, and an opening made about an inch and a quarter in diameter. After driving straight in for an inch or two, the passage turns down and widens two or three diameters. At the depth of a foot or so the crystal white eggs are deposited on a neat bed of fine chips. Incubation lasts twelve days, and the young are hatched some time in May.”
_Eggs._--The willow woodpecker lays three to six eggs, more commonly four or five; it may occasionally lay seven, as some of the other western races have been known to do. The eggs are typical of the species. The measurements of 40 eggs average 18.74 by 15.20 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =22.3= by 15.7, 18.4 by =16.3=, =17.3= by 14.5, and 18.0 by =14.4= millimeters.
_Food._--Mr. Dawson (1923) writes:
It is as an orchardist that the Willow Woodpecker deserves the most careful consideration. Bird-lovers are, perhaps prone to superlatives in commending their friends, but it is safe to say that a more useful bird _for his ounces_ than the downy woodpecker does not exist. He eats not only ants and the larvae of wood-boring beetles, but scale insects, plant lice, and the pupae of the detestable coddling moth. The evidence is clear that these incomparable tree experts, together with their friends, the nuthatches, the chickadees, and the creepers, would insure the health of our orchards if they were numerous enough. It becomes of the highest importance, then, to study their welfare in turn. In the northern and more elevated valleys of the State, it may be worth while to offer them nuts or to hang out a bit of suet in winter. In the South no such precautions are necessary. A fundamental consideration, however, is the provision of suitable nesting sites. Experiment has shown that the downy’s forage range during the breeding season is not extensive. The clamoring young are fed by the product of nearby trees (fed, it may be, a thousand insects a day). Their services, therefore, must be secured in the orchard; and to this end the orchardist must consent to leave certain dead branches--a foot or so at the base of the larger ones will do--for a nesting site. Dead wood, of course, invites insects; but the most serious and frequent mistake which our California orchardists make is to trim out all the dead wood from the fruit trees. A pair of Willow Woodpeckers, or of Slender-billed Nuthatches, will clean out all the dangerous pests from a dead tree, and sixteen live ones to boot.
Grinnell and Storer (1924) made some studies of the feeding habits of the willow woodpecker in the Yosemite region, of which they say:
A pair of Willow Woodpeckers proved to be regular tenants of Curry’s apple orchard on the floor of the Yosemite Valley. They, or their ancestors, had evidently worked there for some years, with the result that most of the 150 trees in the orchard showed marks of their attention, and many of the trunks were fairly riddled with drillings somewhat like those of the sapsucker. * * *
However destructive this drilling may seem to be, it does not seriously affect the vitality of the trees; the pits are but 4 to 5 mm. deep, penetrating only those outer layers of the bark which after a time scale off. We should judge that all evidence of this woodpecker’s work is thus removed through natural process within about three years. The heartwood of the tree therefore seems not to be damaged at all by the woodpecker’s work; it _is_ damaged, however, by the work of the true sapsucker. Our inference from these facts is that the willow woodpecker feeds on the inner layers of bark, which the bird exposes through the perforations described above. We watched a bird at work; moreover, bits of inner bark-fibers were found adhering to the bristles around the bill of a bird shot.
Evidently this observation and report started the same old controversy that arose in connection with the eastern bird, which has been referred to under that subspecies. Charles W. Michael intimated, in course of conversation with Dr. Grinnell, that they were mistaken in ascribing these drillings to willow woodpeckers rather than to red-breasted sapsuckers. This led to the publication, by Dr. Grinnell (1928a), of the evidence produced by Mr. Michael and himself, to which the reader is referred. In spite of some evidence, and more supposed evidence, to the contrary, it now seems to be generally conceded that the downy woodpeckers seldom, if ever, drill these holes for themselves, but that they often feed from holes drilled by sapsuckers. The small amount of drilling done by the downy woodpeckers seems to do the trees no great harm.
_Behavior._--Grinnell and Storer (1924) write:
The quietness of the willow woodpecker, as compared with most other species in its family, is noteworthy. We heard no single call note from it, and only at long intervals did we hear the indescribable short trill characteristic of this bird. Individuals are much restricted in range, foraging along a relatively short line of cottonwoods or willows day after day. Once a bird is located, it can usually be found in the same place regularly. When foraging it moves about with very little commotion, and even when drilling for insects works so quietly that only a keen auditor can detect its presence. No matter what the season of the year, a pair of these birds is to be found usually within hearing of each other. The bird’s close adherence to deciduous trees makes it more conspicuous and easier to observe in late fall and winter than in the summertime when the trees are fully leaved out; but even in winter, our experience with the willow woodpecker led us to consider it about the most elusive of all the diurnal birds of the Yosemite region.
We had always supposed that the rapid series of notes uttered by this species were given only by the adult male and hence constituted a sort of song. But on June 24, 1920, in Yosemite Valley a juvenile male was found, with his head out of a nest hole eight feet above the ground in a dead branch of a live willow, giving every few moments this very series of notes. The large _crown_ patch of red on this bird established its age and sex clearly. There was every indication that the notes were being given as a food call.
M. P. Skinner contributes the following note:
One seen in Sequoia National Park in August was drilling at the bases of willow shoots near a river. It perched lengthwise of the stems. It managed to keep well hidden, but worked industriously and did not change its position much during the short time that I could see it. Later, I caught a glimpse occasionally of the woodpecker’s red head, although the bird kept hidden most of the time. This reminded me that I had often wondered why red usually marked a woodpecker’s head. Certainly it makes a wonderful recognition mark. In that way it might well be that red on the constantly moving head of the woodpecker would be of value to the race.
DRYOBATES BOREALIS (Vieillot)
RED-COCKADED WOODPECKER
PLATES 9, 10
HABITS
CONTRIBUTED BY EUGENE EDMOND MURPHEY
Introduced to ornithology by Wilson under the name of _Picus querulus_, the red-cockaded woodpecker is locally common throughout the open pine country of the South Atlantic and Gulf States and extends its range into the pine country of Oklahoma and Missouri. Its preference is very definitely for the open woods, shunning the dense thickets of second-growth pine and the deep recesses of the cypress swamps even when the latter are only a few hundred yards away from its chosen environment. These open pine woods, which abound both in the Austro-Riparian and Carolinian Zones of the South Atlantic and Gulf States, represent not a normal growth of pine forest but an original pine forest modified by the pernicious custom of annually burning the woods under the impression that in that way next year’s pasturage will be improved.
As a result, the younger trees and seedlings are killed off. Only the hardier and more resistant survivors remain, so that there is little or no underbrush and the general appearance of these woods is more that of an open glade or park than of typical pine forest. William Brewster (1882) comments on the character of these forests as follows: “The pine lands of the South have an open park-like character that is a continual surprise to one accustomed only to New England forests. The trees rarely stand in close proximity to one another, and they are often so widely scattered that the general effect is that of an opening rather than a forest.” These pines are chiefly _Pinus palustris_ Miller, _Pinus ellioti_ Engelmann, and _Pinus taeda_ Linnaeus.
From many sections of the South where it was formerly common, the red-cockaded woodpecker has disappeared by reason of the ruthless destruction of pine forests by the lumbermen. When the large timber is cut out, the birds leave the locality and apparently do not return. However, there is still a considerable amount of pine forest suitable for its nesting that is held in private hands and not about to be destroyed. In fact, such timber holdings are largely on the increase, particularly in the “low country” of South Carolina and Georgia and in certain zones around Thomasville, Ga., and Aiken, S. C., where vast tracts are being conserved by private ownership as game refuges and shooting preserves.
There is also a very considerable amount of intelligent reforestation being carried out, which in time will also furnish adequate and suitable breeding grounds. This species is so highly specialized at least in the South Atlantic States in its habits and its choice of environment that the destruction of the pine forests would probably put its existence in serious jeopardy.
_Nesting._--Audubon (1842) stated that “the nest is not unfrequently bored in a decayed stump about thirty feet high.” G. W. Morse (1927) found the bird nesting in a willow tree in a pasture in Oklahoma. M. G. Vaiden (MS.) reports from Collins, Miss., the taking of a nest from a pine tree, the top of which was dead and the nest hole about 8 feet from the top. Arthur T. Wayne (1906), who has probably had more intimate experience with this bird than any other observer, states:
I have seen perhaps a thousand holes in which this woodpecker had bred or was breeding, and _every one_ was excavated in a _living_ pine tree, ranging from eighteen to one hundred feet above the ground. This bird never lays its eggs until the pine gum pours freely from beneath and around the hole, and in order to accelerate the flow the birds puncture the bark to the “skin” of the tree thereby causing the gum to exude freely. This species, unlike the Pileated Woodpecker, returns to the same hole year after year until it can no longer make the gum exude. But like the Pileated Woodpecker, it is much attached to the tree in which it has first made its nest, and as long as it can find a suitable spot it will continue to excavate new holes until the tree is _killed_ by this process of boring. I have frequently counted as many as four holes in one tree, and in two instances I have seen as many as eight. These birds seem to know by instinct that the center of the tree is rotten, or what lumber men call “black-heart,” and they never make a mistake when selecting a tree! The hole is bored through the solid wood, generally a little upward, and to the center of the tree (which is always rotten).
The overwhelming majority of observers who have studied the red-cockaded woodpecker in its normal habitat concur in the opinion that the site of selection for the nest hole is in a living pine that, however, has begun to rot at the core, and this condition of the heart of the tree the birds seem to be able to discern with unfailing accuracy. All the nests I have seen and studied were in living pines, and other ornithologists have made similar observations. T. Gilbert Pearson (1909) says: “So far as I have observed, always excavated in the trunk of a living pine tree. The site chosen varies from twenty-five to fifty feet from the earth.” H. L. Harllee (MS.), of Florence, S. C, writes: “It nests in the same hole each year in close proximity to several pairs, usually from two to four.” The observations of Gilbert R. Rossignol (MS.), writing from Savannah, Ga., agree with the foregoing. He states: “Before the lumberman invaded our great pine forests, the red-cockaded was fairly common, for I have found 10 or 12 pairs nesting in a 50-acre tract, provided, of course, that the pine trees were not too close to one another. These little woodpeckers did not like dark heavily timbered forests. The bird drills a hole in a living pine ranging from 25 to 80 or more feet high, and it is almost impossible to get the eggs without full equipment. It takes a brace and bit to bore holes a little above where you think the bottom of the nest is located, and then sometimes you strike below it, or again right into it on an incomplete set or no eggs at all. The eggs I have found were always more or less sticky with pine gum. This bird will nest in the same hole for several years and use the same tree probably during its entire life, but if the tree dies, or the gum does not flow freely, the birds will desert their old home.” Henry Nehrling (1882), writing from Texas, states that “it usually excavates its nesting sites in deciduous trees,” and E. A. McIlhenny (Bendire, 1895) that “in southern Louisiana it generally nests in willow and china trees.” The nesting hole is bored usually slightly upward for several inches then straight through into the softer unsound heart of the tree and downward for 8 inches to a foot or more. The nest cavity is gourd-shaped, and the eggs are laid upon fine chips and debris in the bottom of the cavity. The most striking thing about the nesting site, however, is due to the bird’s custom of drilling numerous small holes through the bark of the tree until the resin exudes freely. This glazed patch of gum around the nesting hole is unmistakable and when once seen becomes an easy landmark for the location of the nests, inasmuch as it may be discerned through the open woods for a distance of several hundred yards. During the period of incubation, the birds are a sorry spectacle, the abdomen being largely denuded of feathers, as is customary with many birds, and the breast feathers from the clavicle to the end of the sternum begaumed and matted together with resin, and, in fact, they remain permanently unfit to be taken as specimens until the next molting has been completed.
The nidification is earlier along the coast and southward than in the interior and toward the northern limits of its range, beginning sometimes as early as February, but the major nesting season may be said to be the last week in April and the first week in May.
S. A. Grimes tells us that old nests of this species are used by red-bellied and red-headed woodpeckers, white-breasted nuthatches, bluebirds, crested flycatchers, and flying squirrels.
_Eggs._--The eggs vary from three to five in number, the latter being unusual; they are elliptically ovate in shape, pure glossy white, and semitranslucent when fresh. Not infrequently they are stained or smeared with resin from the breast feathers of the incubating bird. As a rule only one brood is raised in a season unless the first set has been taken, and both parents participate in incubation. There is some evidence tending to show that the eggs and even the unfledged young are sometimes thrown out of the nest by the birds when it has been disturbed.
The measurements of 50 eggs average 24.04 by 17.86 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =26.42= by 18.54, 26.4 by =19.8=, =21.38= by 17.46, and 23.77 by =16.66= millimeters.
_Plumages._--The young in their first plumage bear the general color pattern of the adults with this important exception--the young male has a dull crimson oval central crown patch. However, while the pattern is identical with that of adult birds, the black is replaced by a dark sepia merging at times into an aniline black, and the bluish gloss evident on the crowns of the mature birds is lacking. Similarly, the feathers of the cheek patch in both sexes lack the fine silky gloss and texture that are later attained. The underparts show uniformly a buffy or ochraceous wash everywhere, and the barring of the tail is more pronounced. During this phase, the plumage is much softer and looser than it subsequently becomes.