Part 7

_Nesting._--I can find no references to the nesting habits or eggs of this subspecies, which probably do not differ materially from those of the Chihuahua woodpecker, except that J. S. Ligon told Mrs. Florence M. Bailey (1928) that it nests “generally in small trees in canyon beds.”

_Eggs._--The eggs of this subspecies are apparently similar to those of other hairy woodpeckers. They seem to be scarce in collections; I have been able to locate only two sets of eggs, one set of four and one set of three. These seven eggs show average measurements of 24.66 by 17.91 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =25.3= by 18.2, 24.6 by =18.6=, =24.2= by 18.2, and 24.6 by =17.2= millimeters.

_Food._--Mrs. Bailey (1928) quotes Maj. E. A. Goldman as follows:

One afternoon I found one pecking at a hole near the ground in the trunk of an oak. It worked for a second or two and then paused long enough to look in my direction, beginning work again immediately. This was repeated several times and it seemed disinclined to leave the spot, allowing me to approach to within ten feet, when, instead of flying off, it slid around to the opposite side of the trunk while I examined the place and found the hole inhabited by numerous small black beetles which were running excitedly about. I moved off a short distance and watched the Woodpecker return to the hole which seemed to be a rich find.

She goes on to say:

On Chloride Creek in May, 1916, when Mr. Ligon was standing by a half dead box elder containing a woodpecker nest, the mother came with her bill for half its length jammed full of wood ants for the squawking young inside the hole. One that Mr. Kellogg took at Silver City had recently eaten two woodboring larvae, six caterpillars, and at least ten moth pupae, besides other insects and mast.

DRYOBATES PUBESCENS PUBESCENS (Linnaeus)

SOUTHERN DOWNY WOODPECKER

HABITS

Because the Linnaean name _Picus pubescens_ was based on Catesby’s smallest spotted woodpecker, of South Carolina, the southern bird becomes the type race of the species, and the above scientific name, which for many years was used for the more northern bird, is now restricted to the downy woodpeckers of the Lower Austral Zone of the South Atlantic and Gulf States, from North Carolina to eastern Texas. William Brewster (1897) has given us a full review of the changes that have taken place in the nomenclature of the downy woodpeckers of eastern North America, to which the reader is referred.

The southern downy woodpecker, _D. p. pubescens_, is smaller, from the more southern parts of its range decidedly smaller, than the more northern bird, _D. p. medianus_, intergrading with it where the two ranges meet; the under parts are more brownish, and the white markings of the wings and tail will average of less extent.

The haunts of this woodpecker are similar to those of its northern relative, due allowance being made for the difference in environment. It is a more sociable species than the hairy woodpecker and less of a woodland bird.

In Florida, according to Arthur H. Howell (1932), “it occurs alike in pine woods, hammocks, orchards, roadside hedges, and dooryards.”

_Nesting._--Mr. Howell (1932) says that, in Florida, “the nest of the downy is usually dug in a decaying limb of a tree or occasionally in a fence post, and may be anywhere from 5 to 50 feet above the ground.” Harold H. Bailey (1925) says that “for the nesting site, they usually select a dead stub of some live tree, preferring a hard one to a soft or decayed wood. The cavity is drilled each year anew by the birds, the hole being about one and a quarter inches in diameter and eight to twelve inches deep, varying in height from twenty to sixty feet above ground.” John Helton, Jr., tells me of a nest he found on April 20, near Troy, Ala., that “was drilled in a rotten oak limb, which had fallen, been caught, and was suspended among the branches of a pine. It contained three small young and one infertile egg. The mother bird fed the young with great regularity every three minutes.” M. G. Vaiden, of Rosedale, Miss., writes to me of a nest 35 feet up in a dead snag of a pecan tree; the limb was four inches in diameter and the cavity only five inches deep. George Finlay Simmons (1925) says that, in Texas, it nests “10 to 20 feet from ground in small dead deciduous trees, or in old stumps or telegraph poles.”

_Eggs._--The eggs are like those of the northern downy but slightly smaller. The measurements of 25 eggs average 19.43 by 15.24 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =20.8= by 14.9, 20.6 by =16.7=, and =17.78= by =13.46= millimeters.

_Behavior._--Writing of the habits of these woodpeckers in the sandhills of North Carolina, Milton P. Skinner (1928) says:

They are seen at times with Chickadees, red-cockaded woodpeckers, Brownheaded Nuthatches, Kinglets and Juncos. And these associations seem to be actual and usual, and not temporary and accidental ones as they are between most birds of different species. The downy woodpeckers are peaceable little fellows but other birds will impose on them. I have seen a yellow-bellied sapsucker and a mob of three or four English Sparrows near Pine Bluff chasing one about. But downy was a fast flier and outflew all his tormentors each time. Their flight is undulating and typical of the woodpecker family. These woodpeckers have one trait of the Brown Creepers--they prefer to work _up_ a tree and fly _down_ to the base of the next one.

Perhaps a downy woodpecker does not really work any harder or faster for its food than any other bird, but somehow it seems that it does. I found one once on an inclined limb of a catalpa near the Highland Pines Inn and watched it work up ten feet in thirteen minutes. During that time downy’s blows fell good and hard at the average of a hundred strokes each minute except for a dozen momentary stops when a big bird flew over, or the downy scratched its head. It was feeding on small white grubs which it secured at an average rate of four per minute. * * *

These woodpeckers have the habit in the Sandhills of digging holes in which to sleep. One found a suitable place in the end of a dead limb of a large gum standing in a flooded swamp near Mid Pines Club. This limb had been broken and left a stub sticking out about five feet long at right angles to the trunk of the gum and about forty feet above the ground. It was about five inches in diameter where the woodpecker began work on it. Work was started on the under side of the limb about nine inches from the outer end on February 11, 1927, and the bird dug at it for forty-five minutes to such good purpose that the hole would then admit all its bill and half its head. As it worked it clung head down under the limb. Then it left its work to go foraging but came back in thirty minutes to resume work. During the next three days this woodpecker must have worked steadily for it then had a hole into which it could completely disappear. But the hole was not large enough nor deep enough, and the bird was still at work, continually popping in and out (backward) of its hole; usually when it backed out it carried a bill full of chips and shavings that it threw over its shoulder. As it did so, it glanced once or twice to either side as if to assure itself that all was well. Then back into the hole for another period of steady hammering. Apparently this woodpecker worked thus from thirty minutes to an hour after each half hour’s foraging trip. Two more days of work completed the sleeping quarters in a snug cozy retreat. When finished, the hole was six inches deep, and the limb around it was a mere shell. The opening being beneath the limb, it was sheltered from storms, and from any water running into it.

DISTRIBUTION

_Range._--North America; nonmigratory.

The range of the downy woodpecker is =north= to Alaska (Russian Mission, Tanana, and Fort Egbert); southwestern Mackenzie (Fort Simpson and Fort Providence); northern Alberta (Fort McMurray); central Saskatchewan (Big River and Prince Albert); southern Manitoba (Lake St. Martin, Shoal Lake, and Indian Bay); Ontario (Lac Seul, Gargantua, and Sudbury); Quebec (Lake Mistassini, Godbout, and Natashguan River); and Newfoundland (Nicholsville and probably St. Johns). The =eastern= limit of the range extends =south= along the Atlantic coast from this point to southern Florida (Miami, Royal Palm Hammock, and Flamingo). From this southeastern point the species is found westward along the Gulf coast to Mississippi (Biloxi) and Louisiana (New Orleans), thence in the interior to south-central Texas (Giddings and Pecos); southern New Mexico (Mayhill, Cloudcroft, and Silver City); Arizona (San Francisco Mountain and Fort Valley); and southern California (Escondido). The =western= limits extend nearly or quite to the Pacific coast north through California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia to Alaska (Sitka, Sitkalidak Island, Bethel, and Russian Mission).

The range as above outlined is for the entire species, which has been separated into six subspecies. The typical form, the southern downy woodpecker (_D. p. pubescens_), is found in the South Atlantic and Gulf States north to North Carolina and Oklahoma; the northern downy woodpecker (_D. p. medianus_) ranges north from Virginia, Tennessee, and Kansas (casually eastern Colorado) north to southern Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec, and Newfoundland; Nelson’s downy woodpecker (_D. p. nelsoni_) ranges southeast from northwestern Alaska to central Alberta and is found casually even farther east; Batchelder’s woodpecker (_D. p. leucurus_) is the Rocky Mountain form and is found from the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska south to New Mexico and Arizona, casually east to Nebraska and on the coast of British Columbia; Gairdner’s woodpecker (_D. p. gairdneri_) is found on the Pacific coast from British Columbia south to northern California; and the willow woodpecker (_D. p. turati_) is confined to California, being distributed rather generally over the State except in the desert areas and the northwestern part.

While the downy woodpecker is not migratory in the accepted sense of the term, and during the months of November and December has been recorded north to Mackenzie (Fort Simpson) and central Quebec (Lake Mistassini), it appears to have some local movements and seems given to a certain amount of wandering after the close of the breeding season. In some of the more northern areas it is commoner in winter than in summer, while in the mountainous regions of the West there is apparently a vertical movement in winter to the valley floors.

While the files of the Biological Survey contain the data for more than 4,600 of these birds that have been marked with numbered bands, many of which have been subsequently recovered, only one of these indicates a flight of any distance from the point of banding. This bird (83460), banded on February 2, 1925, at Elkader, Iowa, was found dead at Balsam Lake, Wis., on October 25, 1925. The distance between the two points is about 185 miles.

_Egg dates._--Alberta: 12 records, May 25 to June 14. California: 82 records, April 7 to June 9; 41 records, April 24 to May 13, indicating the height of the season. Colorado: 9 records, May 4 to June 30. Florida: 7 records, April 2 to May 14. Illinois: 16 records, April 3 to June 3; 8 records, May 12 to 20. New York: 12 records, May 10 to June 2. Washington: 8 records, May 1 to June 2.

DRYOBATES PUBESCENS GAIRDNERI (Audubon)

GAIRDNER’S WOODPECKER

HABITS

This subspecies of our well-known downy woodpecker is one of those well-marked dark-colored races that occur in the humid Northwest coast region, ranging in the Transition Zone from southern British Columbia to Mendocino County, Calif. It is practically a small edition of the equally dark Harris’s woodpecker, which inhabits the same region. Its characters are so well marked that it was recognized and named by Audubon (1842). Ridgway (1914) describes it as “similar to _D. p. turati_, but color of under parts darker (often light brownish gray or drab), the white of back often tinged with brownish gray.”

D. E. Brown, in his notes from western Washington, says: “Gairdner’s woodpecker is next to the commonest woodpecker in western Washington, the northwestern flicker being the only one that outnumbers it. This, the smallest of the woodpeckers in this locality, is fond of old river beds, willow swamps, and the deciduous trees along streams. It is found here at all times of year but seems to be more in evidence in winter, probably because the leaves are off the trees where it is usually found.”

_Nesting._--Mr. Brown states further that “it digs its nesting cavity usually in a dead willow stub of small size, but at times it excavates, with much labor, a cavity in a growing tree. Nests have been found as low as 3 feet from the ground, and they are seldom more than 30 feet up. Three to six eggs are laid, five being the usual number. The first week in May is the best time for fresh eggs. The incubating bird has a habit that, I think, saves its eggs many times; when the stub that contains the eggs is rapped, the sitting bird comes to the opening with its bill full of chips from the bottom of the nest; these are dropped outside, and the bird drops back into the nest, only to repeat this action when the rapping is repeated. I have seen this performance not once but many times, and I think it a regular occurrence when the eggs are well incubated.”

Dawson and Bowles (1909) write: “Gairdners place their nests at inconsiderable 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 an inch or two, the passage turns down and widens two or three diameters. At a 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 about the 1st of June.”

_Eggs._--The eggs of Gairdner’s woodpecker resemble those of the northern downy (_medianus_) in every respect but average slightly smaller. The measurements of 34 eggs average 18.71 by 14.51 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =20.83= by 15.24, 20.32 by =16.0=, =17.27= by 14.22, and 17.78 by =12.95= millimeters.

_Food._--Johnson A. Neff (1928) had 68 stomachs available for study, mostly Gairdner’s woodpeckers from the Willamette Valley, Oreg., and states that--

the animal food items averaged 82.07 percent of the annual food, and vegetable matter, 17.93 percent. * * *

At Peyton, in August, the Gairdner Woodpeckers were observed working busily for several days removing the larvae, pupae, and adults of weevils from the stems of common mullen, _Verbascum thapsus_. * * *

During July, 1925, whole families of the Gairdner Woodpecker were observed in the huge cottonwoods which abound near the Willamette River, feeding on aphids and scale. They often numbered as high as ten birds in one tree, and worked from the lowest limb to the highest leaf. While paying some attention to the branches, their chief interest was in the clusters of leaves; they clambered out each small branch to the group of leaves at the tip, peered under each leaf intently, even swinging around sidewise and up-side down in their efforts. Through the binoculars it was easy to see them remove small objects and, later, stomach analysis showed that most of the objects were scale insects. * * *

These woodpeckers have yet to be observed doing any injury to a living tree; the writer has been unable to find any evidence of their doing so in this area. While they nested abundantly in the river-bottom lands in very close companionship with true sapsuckers, they were never seen to visit the flowing sap pits. * * *

Fruit was hardly touched by these birds; elderberry (_Sambucus_) and Madrona (_Arbutus_) were the only kinds found, averaging only 0.46 percent of the diet. * * *

The Gairdner, Willow, and Batchelder Woodpeckers in the orchard are worth their weight in gold to the fruit grower. They should be strictly protected, and every known means of attraction should be used in the attempt to persuade them to remain about the ranches.

_Winter._--Anderson and Grinnell (1903) say that, in the Siskiyou Mountains, Calif., “the Gairdner woodpecker is usually to be found in company with the flocks of mountain chickadees which frequent the black oak groves all winter. The oaks are their favorite working places, but they are also to be seen among the pines and spruces. Six specimens brought home are all quite near _gairdneri_. The smokiness of the lower surface is not so intense as in skins from western Oregon, but the size, especially of the feet, is decidedly that of the northwest coast form.”

DRYOBATES PUBESCENS LEUCURUS (Hartlaub)

BATCHELDER’S WOODPECKER

HABITS

The downy woodpecker inhabiting the Rocky Mountains and adjacent regions from southern Alaska to Arizona and New Mexico is described by Ridgway (1914) as “similar in large size and whiteness of under parts to _D. p. nelsoni_, but with less of white on wing-coverts, sometimes with none, the spots, when present, only on terminal or (usually) subterminal portion, and on only a few of the covert features.” It also differs from it in a “tendency to reduction or absence of bars on lateral rectrices.”

The common name of this woodpecker is in honor of Charles F. Batchelder, who first (1889) called the attention of American ornithologists to the characters of this race under the name _D. p. oreoecus_. Batchelder’s name was used in the 1895 A. O. U. Check-List, but it was later found to be antedated by _Dryobates homorus_ of Cabanis and Heine, which was adopted in the 1910 Check-List. This was found to be still further antedated by the name _Picus leucurus_, given to the downy woodpecker of the Rocky Mountains by Hartlaub in 1852. It seems rather strange that this race remained so long unrecognized in this country. This may be due to the fact that this woodpecker seems to be a comparatively rare bird throughout most of its range.

The Weydemeyers (1928) say of its occurrence in northwestern Montana:

A rather rare permanent resident, irregular in winter. Occurs throughout the county, but is rare at high elevations. It frequents mixed broad-leaf and conifer woods along the lower streams, where it undoubtedly breeds in preference to other locations. During winter it is often seen about farmsteads and pastures, and in bordering woods of Douglas fir, yellow pine, and larch. In the Canadian zone it occurs sparingly in lodgepole pine and alpine fir (_Abies lasiocarpa_) woods, usually along streams.

In the western half of the county, an observer may consider himself fortunate to see an individual of this species twice a week. In the eastern portion, during July and August, along Transition zone streams, one or two birds may be seen nearly every day.

We have obtained no definite nesting dates for this species, although it evidently breeds in suitable locations. On July 22, 1923, a brood of young on the wing was seen near Fortine in woods of spruce and aspen, in the Transition zone, at 2,960 feet altitude.

Major Bendire (1895) writes:

Dr. Edgar A. Mearns, United States Army, reports it breeding sparingly throughout the _Pinus ponderosa_ belt, ascending into the Spruce zone, on the San Francisco cone, and considers it the rarest of the woodpeckers found in Arizona. Mr. Denis Gale took a nest and eggs of this subspecies in Boulder County, Colorado, on June 12, 1889. The excavation was found in a half-dead aspen, 30 feet from the ground, and presumably well up in the mountains, as Mr. William G. Smith informs me that it is only a winter visitor in the lower valleys, and is never seen there during warm weather. I found it rare near Fort Custer, Montana, and only obtained a single male specimen, on November 23, 1884, among the willows and cottonwoods on the Little Horn River. Dr. James C. Merrill, United States Army, met with it breeding at Fort Shaw, Mont., early in June, 1879, and tells me that five or six eggs are generally laid to a set, and that the nesting habits are just like those of the downy woodpecker.

Lee R. Dice (1918) says that, in southeastern Washington, it is “numerous throughout the year in the timber along the Touchet River near Prescott.

“* * * On June 11, 1908, a nest containing young was found four feet from the ground in an apple tree near Prescott. The female was seen gathering large, red aphids from nearby golden-rod. She would gather all her mouth could hold and until the aphids stuck out like a fringe all around the edges of the bill. Then she flew in a direct line toward the nest. This female was also seen to gather aphids from apple trees.”

A set of four eggs in the Thayer collection was taken near Fort Shaw, Mont., on June 8, 1879; the nesting cavity was 12 feet from the ground in a dead tree and was excavated to a depth of 10 inches. The eggs are characteristic of the species, short-ovate in shape, dull white in color, and only slightly glossy.

The measurements of 28 eggs average 19.86 by 15.29 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =23.37= by =16.00=, =19.0= by 14.8, and 18.4 by =14.4= millimeters.

DRYOBATES PUBESCENS MEDIANUS (Swainson)

NORTHERN DOWNY WOODPECKER

PLATES 7, 8

HABITS

CONTRIBUTED BY WINSOR MARRETT TYLER

The downy woodpecker, including six geographical forms, inhabits nearly the whole of the wooded parts of North America. It is absent or rare on the arid deserts and less common in the densely forested regions than some of the larger woodpeckers; its favorite country is the open woodland that covers a large part of the United States.

When civilized man invaded their territory, the downy woodpeckers of the Atlantic coast--the northern and southern races--did not retreat before his advance but accepted as a home the orchards and shade trees with which man replaced the forest. At the present time it builds its nest sometimes within sight from our windows and often in the parks of our large cities. It is one of the best known of our permanent residents.

The ornithologists of a century ago show unanimity in their characterization of the bird. Audubon (1842) remarks that it “is perhaps not surpassed by any of its tribe in hardiness, industry, or vivacity”; Wilson (1832) says that “the principal characteristics of this little bird are diligence, familiarity, perseverance” and speaks of a pair of the birds working at their nest “with the most indefatigable diligence”; and Nuttall (1832) characteristically shares Wilson’s opinion even to the extent of employing his exact words, “indefatigable diligence,” in his own account of the building of the nest. Nearly a hundred years later Forbush (1927), when near the end of his long life, put the seal of his approval upon this sentiment, expressed long ago, by summarizing the downy as a “model of patient industry and perseverance.”

Backed by these authorities we may regard the downy woodpecker as a bird with a stable and well-balanced nature, a bird which, unconcerned by the rush and traffic “of these most brisk and giddy-paced times,” still perseveres in its “indefatigable diligence.”