Part 28

Red-headed woodpeckers seem to be oftener killed on highways by speeding automobiles than any other species, as attested by several observers. Dr. Dayton Stoner (1932) made some observations on this point on an automobile trip, on July 15, 1924, for a distance of 211 miles on well-graveled roads in Iowa. He says:

En route, 105 dead animals representing fifteen species were counted; of these, thirty-nine were red-headed woodpeckers. The mortality in this species was higher than for any other species of vertebrate animal noted and I believe that several contributory factors are responsible for it. First, these birds have a propensity for feeding upon insects and waste grain in and along the roads; second, they delay taking wing before the approaching car, in all probability being poor judges of its speed; and third, they have a slow “get-away,” that is, they can not quickly gain sufficient speed to escape the oncoming car. However, I feel certain that a speed as high as thirty-five to forty miles an hour is necessary in order to overtake these birds.

Alexander Wilson (1832) writes:

Notwithstanding the care which this bird, in common with the rest of its genus, takes to place its young beyond the reach of enemies, within the hollows of trees, yet there is one deadly foe, against whose depredations neither the height of the tree nor the depth of the cavity, is the least security. This is the black snake (_Coluber constrictor_), who frequently glides up the trunk of the tree, and, like a skulking savage, enters the woodpecker’s peaceful apartment, devours the eggs or helpless young, in spite of the cries and fluttering of the parents; and, if the place be large enough, coils himself up in the spot they occupied, where he will sometimes remain for several days.

_Fall._--The fall migration is often well marked. A. H. Helme (1882), writing from Millers Place, Long Island, N. Y., where the bird occurs mainly as a migrant, says:

The first one observed this season was on the 10th of September. On the 12th I saw three, and on the 20th I saw one. Early on the morning of the 24th of September they began to pass over in large numbers, and continued to pass until about 10 o’clock, after which very few were seen, except straggling groups of three or four, and occasionally a single one was seen to pass over during the day. The flight must have consisted of several hundred, principally young birds. They came from the east and were flying west. Many of them in their flight would alight for a few minutes in the orchards and corn fields to feed on the half-ripened corn, or search among the apple trees for the larva or eggs of insects but would soon continue on their journey, and their places would be supplied by others. I noticed one or two to dart out and seize an insect in the manner of a flycatcher. The following day but two or three were seen. A few stragglers, however, were occasionally met with up to the 10th of October, and one was seen as late as the 23rd of November.

John B. Semple (1930) writes:

On September 16, 1929, a flight of red-headed woodpeckers (_Melanerpes erythrocephalus_) was observed passing over the marshes at the head of Sandusky Bay, Ohio. The birds were flying in little groups of two to five against a stiff southwest wind heading nearly south and at an elevation of sixty to eighty yards. Rather more than half of them were immature birds but the old and young were not segregated. I was hunting ducks at the time and counted forty-eight woodpeckers passing in a little more than two hours. They apparently came from Ontario and probably crossed Lake Erie by way of Point Pelee and Bass Island which would make the flight over water only about nine miles. It was interesting to note that each successive group of birds followed exactly the same route over the marshes although those that had gone before were well out of sight.

_Winter._--The red-headed woodpecker is generally considered to be a migratory species throughout the northern portion of its breeding range, but its movements seem to depend almost entirely on the abundance or scarcity of its winter food supply, mainly acorns and beechnuts; when these nuts are available in considerable quantities, this woodpecker is to be found in reasonable numbers within its summer range in the northern States. When Dr. C. Hart Merriam (1878) referred to it as remaining occasionally in northern New York, Lewis County, in winter, some of his ornithological friends were skeptical. He says:

I therefore wrote to my friend, Mr. C. L. Bagg, asking him to send me a lot of red-headed woodpeckers as soon as possible, and in a week’s time received a box containing over twenty specimens,--all killed in Lewis County and when the snow was three feet deep! This was proof positive. Notes kept by Mr. Bagg and myself during the past six years show that they were abundant here during the winters 1871-72, 1873-74, 1875-76, and 1877-78; while they were rare or did not occur at all during the winters of 1872-73 and 1876-77. Their absence was in no way governed by the severity of the winters, but entirely dependent upon the absence of the usual supply of beechnuts. While the greater portion of nuts fall to the ground and are buried beneath the snow far beyond the reach of the woodpeckers, yet enough remain on the trees all winter to furnish abundant subsistence for those species which feed on them. * * *

During the autumn the scattered pairs for several miles around usually congregate in some suitable wood, containing a plenty of beech-trees, and here spend the long cold winter in company, chattering and chasing one another about among the trees to keep warm, and to help while away the time. “Coe’s woods,” in this immediate vicinity, has long been famous as the great winter resort for the red-headed woodpeckers of the neighborhood, and it is certainly the most suitable place for their purposes to be found for many miles around. This piece of woods, not over an eighth of a mile in extent, contains, besides hundreds of beeches (_Fagus ferruginea_), a large number of elms (_Ulmus americana_), and white ash-trees (_Fraxinus americana_) of great size, most of the tops of which are now dead. What more favorable location than this woods could a woodpecker desire? Here they have beechnuts in abundance and a bountiful supply of dead limbs and tree-tops far above the reach of the small charges commonly used by bird-collectors.

James B. Purdy (1900) says that “the presence of the Red-headed Woodpecker (_Melanerpes erythrocephalus_) during the winter months in Michigan does not depend upon the temperature, but entirely upon the food supply, viz.: the crop of acorns and beechnuts which precedes the winter. If these nuts are plenty, the red-headed woodpeckers will always be found during the winter months, but in no great abundance. If there are no acorns or beechnuts, this bird will be entirely absent in our Michigan forests.”

Robert Ridgway (1881) writes:

Ordinarily this species (_Melanerpes erythrocephalus_) is decidedly the most numerous of the Woodpeckers in Southeastern Illinois, while during the winter season it is often so excessively common in the sheltered bottom-lands as to outnumber all other species together, and, in fact, is voted a decided nuisance by the hunter, sportsman, or collector, on account of its well known habit of following any one carrying a gun, and annoying him by its continued chatter; at intervals sweeping before him and thus diverting attention. Being at this season always semi-gregarious, while they are of all woodpeckers the most restless and sportive, the annoyance which they thus cause is really no trifling matter.

Evidently, they do not always spend the winter even here, for he says: “In the early part of October, 1879, I paid my usual yearly visit to my old home, and scarcely had arrived at the house ere my father informed me, as a bit of news which he was well aware would both interest and surprise me, that the red-headed woodpeckers had all migrated; that for a number of nights preceding he had heard overhead their well-known notes as they winged their way to some more or less distant region; in short, that the woods that had been their home ‘knew them now no more.’”

Even as far south as South Carolina, according to Arthur T. Wayne (1910): “The controlling influence upon the migration of this species in winter is the presence or absence of acorns of the live and water oaks. If the crop of acorns is large, this woodpecker is abundant during the winter months, but if there are no acorns, the bird is entirely absent, no matter whether the season is mild or severe.”

DISTRIBUTION

_Range._--Southern Canada and the United States east of the Rocky Mountains; irregularly migratory in the northern parts of its range.

_Breeding range._--The breeding range of the red-headed woodpecker extends =north= to northern Montana (Strabane, Lewistown, Fairview, and Terry); northern North Dakota (Arnegard and Willow City); southern Manitoba (Lake St. Martin and Winnipeg); southern Ontario (Kenora, Cobden, and Ottawa); southern Quebec (Three Rivers and Hatley); and southern New Brunswick (St. John). The =eastern= limits of the range extend from New Brunswick (St. John) south along the Atlantic coast to Florida (Orlando and Fort Myers). =South= through the Gulf coastal regions of Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana; central Texas (Waco); and central New Mexico (Fort Sumner and Albuquerque). =West= to New Mexico (Albuquerque and Santa Fe); central Colorado (Hotchkiss, Golden, Estes Park, and Fort Collins); eastern Wyoming (Laramie and Carey burst); and Montana (Kirby, Billings, Lewistown, and Strabane).

During the summer season the species also has been taken or observed north to southeastern Alberta (Medicine Hat, Big Stick, and Eastend); southern Saskatchewan (Oak Lake, Aweme, and Pilot mound); Quebec (Quebec City); and New Brunswick (Beaver Dam).

_Winter range._--The normal winter range of the red-headed woodpecker appears to extend =north= to Oklahoma (Oklahoma City and Okmulgee); northeastern Iowa (National); Illinois (Ohio and Mount Carmel); Tennessee (Nashville and Knoxville); West Virginia (Charlestown and Clarksburg); and southeastern Pennsylvania (Philadelphia). At this season it is never common on the Atlantic coast north of South Carolina (Charleston), but is found from there =south= to southern Florida (Miami). From this point it winters westward along the Gulf coast to Louisiana and probably Texas. The =western= limits of the winter range appear to be central Texas (probably Somerset) and Oklahoma (Caddo and Oklahoma City).

In addition to the winter range above given, it also has been noted casually at this season in eastern Kansas and Nebraska, southeastern South Dakota (Yankton, January 2, 1929, and the winter of 1936-37); North Dakota (Grafton, specimen collected January 24, 1905); Minnesota (frequent in the southern part); Wisconsin (occasional north to Meriden and New London); southern Michigan (Grand Rapids, Lansing, and Detroit); southern Ontario (Coldstream, Toronto, and Kingston); southern Vermont (Bennington); and Massachusetts (Boston).

_Migration._--The migrations of the red-headed woodpecker are imperfectly understood, and, as will be noted from the numerous casual winter records, individuals of this species sometimes winter north almost to the limits of the breeding range. This makes difficult the designation of early and late dates of migration. Nevertheless, the following dates may be considered representative of most seasons in that portion of the range where the species is normally migratory:

_Spring migration._--Early dates of arrival are: New Jersey--Elizabeth, February 27; New Providence, March 13; Cape May, March 27. Northwestern Pennsylvania--Beaver, April 15. New York--Penn Yan, April 3; West Brighton, April 12; Syracuse, April 14. Connecticut--Fairfield, March 2; Meriden, March 28. Massachusetts--Bernardstown, April 4; Russell, April 21. Vermont--St. Johnsbury, April 19. Maine--Lewiston, May 8; Portland, May 15. Quebec--Montreal, May 7. Ohio--Wauseon, March 7. Michigan--Saginaw, March 9; Sault Ste. Marie, May 22. Ontario--London, March 13; Hamilton, April 15; Toronto, April 26. Wisconsin--Ladysmith, April 23. Minnesota.--Redwing, March 30; St. Cloud, April 1; Hutchinson, April 14. Kansas--Fort Hays, April 11; Bendena, April 13; Harper, April 25. Nebraska--Omaha, April 29; Neligh, May 3; Scribner, May 7. South Dakota--Yankton, April 13; Vermillion, April 29; Sioux Falls, May 4. North Dakota--Jamestown, April 21; Argusville, May 8; Fargo, May 9. Manitoba--East Kildonan, May 6; Aweme, May 19. New Mexico--Glenrio, April 26. Colorado (occasionally winters)--Burlington, May 7; Lamar, May 11; Denver, May 15. Wyoming--Laramie Peak, May 2; Careyhurst, May 15; Torrington, May 17. Montana--Albion, May 19; Fort Custer, May 20.

_Fall migration._--Late dates of fall departure are: Montana--Sun River, September 5. Wyoming--Laramie, September 4; Wheatland, September 6; Panco, October 2. Colorado--Greeley, October 1; Denver;, October 21; Boulder County, October 23. New Mexico--Koehler Junction, October 24. Manitoba--Margaret, September 20; Aweme, October 8. North Dakota--Medora, September 18; Wahpeton, September 29. South Dakota--Sioux Falls, September 20; Harrison, September 28; Yankton, October 7. Nebraska--Red Cloud, October 3; Blue Springs, October 4. Kansas--Harper, October 15; Lawrence, October 18; Fort Hays, October 29. Minnesota--Hutchinson, October 20; Minneapolis, October 26. Wisconsin--Prescott, October 10; Reedsburg, October 16; and La Crosse, October 29. Northern Michigan--Sault Ste. Marie, November 15. Ontario--Toronto, September 15; Ottawa, September 18; Point Pelee, October 14. Maine--Skowhegan, October 26. Vermont--Wells River, September 24; Rutland, October 14. Massachusetts--Springfield, October 9; Boston, October 15. Connecticut--Fairfield, October 8; Hartford, October 13. Northern New York--Watertown, October 16; Geneva, October 24; Rochester, November 11. Northwestern Pennsylvania--McKeesport, October 19; Berwyn, November 8; Erie, November 17. New Jersey--Passaic, October 21; Cape May, October 21; Morristown, November 2.

An examination of the banding files in the Biological Survey adds but little information to knowledge of the migrations of this bird. Although it has been banded in fair numbers (more than 1,700 previous to July 1, 1937) the farthest recovery record is only about 80 miles south of the point of banding. There are, however, several cases of return in subsequent seasons to the banding stations.

_Casual records._--Records of this species outside its normal range are not numerous. A single specimen was taken in the Chiricahua Mountains, Ariz., in the spring of 1894; one was observed in Salt Lake City, Utah, in June 1874; and one was noted near Fortine, in northwestern Montana, on June 18, 1931.

_Egg dates._--Alabama: 12 records, April 20 to July 15; 6 records, May 26 to June 17, indicating the height of the season. Illinois: 19 records, May 9 to July 10; 10 records, May 19 to June 15. Michigan: 16 records, May 9 to August 20; 8 records, May 15 to June 3. New York: 15 records, May 21 to June 19; 8 records, May 26 to June 5. South Carolina: 12 records, May 6 to July 2.

BALANOSPHYRA FORMICIVORA FORMICIVORA (Swainson)

ANT-EATING WOODPECKER

HABITS

The type race of the species is now restricted in its distribution to the region from south-central Texas (Kerr County and the Chisos Mountains) to eastern and southern Mexico. It differs from the other races in the width of the white frontal band, the amount of streaking on the breast and sides, and the amount of yellow in the throat patch, as well as in size. It differs from _bairdi_ and _aculeata_ in having the chest mostly streaked, at least on the median portion, instead of mostly uniform black. The white frontal patch is broader than in _angustifrons_, and the black band across the female crown is much wider. It is slightly larger than _aculeata_, and somewhat smaller than _bairdi_ but decidedly larger than _angustifrons_. Its throat patch is paler yellow than in _bairdi_ and _angustifrons_.

I cannot find anything of consequence in print relating to the habits of the race, which probably do not differ materially from the habits of the species elsewhere. There are two sets of eggs in the Thayer collection, one of six and one of five eggs, taken in Tamaulipas, Mexico, on April 18 and 22, 1908; in each case the nest is said to have been 20 feet from the ground in a pine. The measurements of these 11 eggs average 26.47 by 19.00 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =28.1= by 19.0, 26.7 by =19.3=, =25.9= by =18.9= millimeters.

DISTRIBUTION

_Range._--Western United States, Central America, and northwestern South America; nonmigratory.

On the Pacific coast the ant-eating woodpecker ranges through the Coast and Sierra Nevada ranges =north= to southwestern Oregon (Cow Creek and Ashland). In the interior it is found =north= to northern Arizona (Hualapai Mountain, Williams, and Grand Canyon); northern New Mexico (Largo Canyon and the headwaters of the Gallina River); and southwestern Texas (Fort Davis and Kerrville). From these regions the species is found =south= through both eastern and western Mexico (including Baja California) and other Central American countries, at least to central Colombia.

Several subspecies of this woodpecker are found only in Central and South America, but three varieties occur regularly in the United States, while two others are confined to Baja California. The true ant-eating woodpecker (_B. f. formicivora_), which ranges through eastern and southern Mexico, is found also in south-central Texas (Chisos Mountains and Kerrville). Mearns’s woodpecker (_B. f. aculeata_) occupies the range in Arizona, New Mexico, and western Texas (Fort Davis) south through the Mexican States of Sonora, Chihuahua, and Durango. The California woodpecker (_B. f. bairdi_) is found in the Pacific coast region from Oregon south to northern Baja California. In this Mexican State the narrow-fronted woodpecker (_B. f. angustifrons_) is confined to the region of Cape San Lucas, while the San Pedro woodpecker (_B. f. martirensis_) is found in the northwestern part of the area nearly to the United States border.

_Egg dates._--Arizona: 9 records, May 10 to June 10. California: 66 records, April 2 to June 15; 33 records, April 20 to May 15, indicating the height of the season. Second and third broods have been found in September and October. Baja California: 4 records, May 10 to June 3.

BALANOSPHYRA FORMICIVORA BAIRDI (Ridgway)

CALIFORNIA WOODPECKER

PLATE 28

HABITS

The above common name is well chosen, as this is one of the commonest and most conspicuous birds throughout its range in California. Anyone who spends much time afield in the valleys, foothills, and canyons of southern and western California is sure to see this strikingly colored and active woodpecker making itself conspicuous among the oaks and pines; and, where one is seen, there are almost sure to be others, for it is a sociable species.

Referring to the Lassen Peak region, Grinnell, Dixon, and Linsdale (1930) say:

Two environmental factors of seeming importance for the presence of this bird were an available supply of acorns and wood or bark of sorts into which the birds could bore storage holes. As to species of oak, out of the six or more present, our impression remains that no outstanding choice by the woodpeckers was shown. About as many of the birds were seen among the black oaks in the vicinity of Payne Creek P. O., as among the valley oaks around Cone’s. However, tracks of black oaks recurred east of the main mountain mass in the section, as along the upper Susan River and near Eagle Lake, where no California woodpeckers were ever seen by us. To repeat, none of this species of woodpecker was seen by us east of about the western edge of the yellow pine belt (Transition life-zone). * * *

Situations where individuals of this woodpecker were observed are as follows: top of sycamore; dead sycamore stub; in cottonwood; about clumps of fruiting mistletoe; at tips of twigs of large valley oak; in black oak; in blue oak; on dead upper limb of living blue oak; in orchard tree; on isolated digger pine; in large yellow pine; at top of dead incense cedar; on ground at roadside; on fence post; on barn end; on telephone pole.

_Courtship._--I first became acquainted with this handsome woodpecker in the Arroyo Seco, on the outskirts of Pasadena, during the winter and spring of 1929, where I often saw these birds busy with their courtship activities in the tops of the tall sycamores. They were flying about among the treetops, making a lot of noise, two males sometimes chasing a female and showing off their brilliant colors, the white spaces in their wings and the white rumps being especially conspicuous; doubtless the red crown and yellow throat, set off by black and white, played an important part in the display. They reminded me of flickers, as they danced on, or dodged around, the branches in playful, showy antics.

_Nesting._--_Bendire_ (1895) writes:

In the more southern portions of its range nidification commences sometimes as early as April, and somewhat later farther north. The nesting sites are mostly excavated in white-oak trees, both living and dead, but preferably one of the former is selected in which the core of the tree is decayed. It also nests occasionally in sycamores, cottonwoods, and large willow trees, and more rarely in telegraph poles. Both sexes assist in the excavation of the nesting site, as well as in incubation. The entrance hole is about 1⅗ inches in diameter, perfectly circular, and is sometimes chiseled through 2 or 3 inches of solid wood before the softer and decayed core is reached. The inner cavity is gradually enlarged as it descends, and varies from 8 to 24 inches in depth, usually being from 4 to 5 inches in diameter at the bottom, where a quantity of fine chips are allowed to remain, on which the eggs are deposited.

Milton P. Skinner writes to me: “On May 12, 1933, I found a nest in the main trunk of an almost dead black oak. The opening, 25 feet above the ground, seemed very small and was placed on the southeast side of the tree.

“In the Yosemite Valley, these birds nest in the trunks and large limbs of the Kellogg oaks, and their abandoned holes may be used by pygmy owls another year. As a rule, the California woodpeckers and the pygmy owls show little antagonism toward each other. In spite of this usual custom of nesting in the oaks, most of the birds I saw in the Yosemite were actually in the cottonwoods along the river. After some searching, I found at least one nest there in a short, dead stub of a cottonwood, on July 24, 1933. I saw one bird fly down and feed another that was inside, and then fly away. The hole was about 12 feet above the ground and on the north side of the stub, facing the river and away from the meadow behind it. All the trees in the vicinity were cottonwoods, but there was one oak 150 feet east of the nesting site. There were six other holes in the stub, all on the north side and from 6 to 18 feet above the ground.”

Grinnell and Storer (1924) write:

The more intensive occupancy of the Yosemite Valley during recent years and the operations of the government employees in promptly removing dead but standing trees to be cut up for wood has operated to the detriment of the woodpeckers which seek such trees for nesting holes. So it was no surprise, in May, 1919, to find a number of telephone or electric power poles near Redwood Lane which had been prospected for nesting sites by woodpeckers--the California, to judge from the size of hole and general location. Dearth of suitable natural sites had forced the birds to at least investigate these newly established dead-tree substitutes. With no substitutes at all available, the only result to be logically looked for, as a result of man’s interference with the natural order of affairs, would be the disappearance of woodpeckers. The question arises here as to the justification of the administratiton in so altering natural conditions in National Parks as to threaten the persistence there of any of its native denizens.