Acorn Woodpecker
The Acorn woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus) is a medium-sized woodpecker, 21 cm long with an average weight of 85 g.
The adult has a black head, back, wings and tail, white forehead, throat, belly and rump. The eyes are white. The adult male has a red cap starting at the forehead, whereas females have a black area between the forehead and the cap. The white neck, throat and forehead patches are distinctive identifiers.
Breeding communities
The breeding habitat is forested areas with oaks in the hills of coastal California and the southwestern United States south to Colombia. This species may occur at low elevations in the north of its range, but rarely below 1000m in Central America, and it breeds up to the timberline. The breeding pair excavate a nest in a large cavity in a dead tree or a dead part of a tree. A group of adults may participate in nesting activities: Field studies have shown that breeding groups range from monogamous pairs to breeding collectives of seven males and three females, plus up to 10 nonbreeding helpers. Young have been found with multiple paternity.[1]
Food and homesThe acorns are visible, and the group defends the tree against potential cache robbers like Steller's Jays and Western Scrub Jays. Acorns are such an important resource to the California populations that Acorn Woodpeckers may nest in the fall to take advantage of the fall acorn crop, a rare behavior in birds [2]. Acorn Woodpeckers can also be seen sallying from tree limbs to catch insects, eating fruit and seeds, and drilling holes to drink sap. The Acorn Woodpecker will use any human-made structures to store acorns, drilling holes into fence posts, utility poles, buildings, and even automobile radiators. Occasionally the woodpecker will put acorns into places where it cannot get them out. Woodpeckers put 220 kg (485 lb) of acorns into a wooden water tank in Arizona. In parts of its range the Acorn Woodpecker does not construct a granary tree, but instead stores acorns in natural holes and cracks in bark. If the stores are eaten, the woodpecker will move to another area, even going from Arizona to Mexico to spend the winter.
Breeding behavior
In California, Acorn Woodpeckers breed from April – June. An Acorn Woodpecker group may consist of 1-7 male breeders that compete to mate with 1-3 females. The nest is excavated in a large tree, which may also be a granary tree. Tree cavities are created in both dead and living trees and snags and nest holes are reused for many years. Females typically lay 5 eggs that are incubated for 11–14 days. Male and females incubate and tend to their young. Non-breeding helpers (young from previous years) often help with incubation and other parental duties. The young leave the nest and take their first flight at approximately 30–32 days after hatching and return to the nest to be fed for several weeks.Breeding female
In groups with more than one breeding female, the females put their eggs into a single nest cavity. A female usually destroys any eggs in the nest before she starts to lay, and more than one third of all eggs laid in joint nests are destroyed. Once all the females start to lay, they stop removing eggs.
This bird is a permanent resident throughout its range. They may relocate to another area if acorns are not readily available. It is sedentary and very sociable.
Threats and degradation
Acorn Woodpeckers like many other species are threatened by habitat loss and degradation. Competition for nest cavities by non-native species is an ongoing threat in urbanized areas. Conservation of this species is dependent on the maintenance of functional ecosystems that provide the full range of resources upon which the species depends. These include mature forests with oaks capable of producing large mast crops and places for the woodpeckers to nest, roost, and store mast. Residents are encouraged to preserve mature oak and pine-oak stands of trees and to provide dead limbs and snags for nesting, roosting and granary sites to help preserve the Acorn Woodpeckers population.
Popular culture
Walter Lantz is believed to have patterned the call of his cartoon character Woody Woodpecker on that of the acorn woodpecker, while patterning his appearance on that of the Pileated Woodpecker which has a prominent crest.[3]
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, and subtropical or tropical high-altitude shrubland
The Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Melanerpes pucherani, is a resident breeding bird from southeastern Mexico south to western Ecuador.
The adult is 18.5 cm long and weighs 63 g. It has black upperparts with white barring on the back, white spotting on the wings and a white rump. The tail is black with some white barring, and the underparts are pale buff-olive with a red central belly. There is a black patch through the eys and on the cheeks, a yellow forehead, and a red nape. The crown is red in the male and black in the female. Young birds are duller, have less white above and less red on the belly.
Breeding communities
Food and homes
In California, Acorn Woodpeckers breed from April – June. An Acorn Woodpecker group may consist of 1-7 male breeders that compete to mate with 1-3 females. The nest is excavated in a large tree, which may also be a granary tree. Tree cavities are created in both dead and living trees and snags and nest holes are reused for many years. Females typically lay 5 eggs that are incubated for 11–14 days. Male and females incubate and tend to their young. Non-breeding helpers (young from previous years) often help with incubation and other parental duties. The young leave the nest and take their first flight at approximately 30–32 days after hatching and return to the nest to be fed for several weeks.
The Red-headed Woodpecker, Melanerpes erythrocephalus, is a small or medium-sized woodpecker from temperate North America. Their breeding habitat is open country across southern Canada and the eastern-central United States.
Adults are strikingly tri-colored, with a black back and tail and a red head and neck. Their underparts are mainly white. The wings are black with white secondary remiges. Adult males and females are identical in plumage.[3] Juveniles are similarly shaded, but are mottled with brown.[3] Non-birders may often mistakenly identify Red-bellied Woodpeckers as Red-headeds, whose range overlaps somewhat with that of the Red-headed woodpecker. While red-bellied woodpeckers have some bright red on the backs of their necks and heads, red-headed woodpeckers have a much deeper red that covers their entire heads and necks, as well as a different overall plumage pattern.
Description
One of the largest species of American woodpeckers, Lewis's Woodpecker can be as large as 10 to 11 inches in length. It is mainly reddish-breasted, blackish-green in color with a black rump. It has a gray collar and upper breast, with a pinkish belly, and a red face. The wings are much broader than those of other woodpeckers, and it flies at a much more sluggish pace with slow, but even flaps similar to those of a crow.
Lewis's Woodpecker engages in some rather un-woodpecker-like behavior in its gregarious feeding habits. Although it does forage for insects by boring into trees with its chisel-like bill, the bird also catches insects in the air during flight, (typical insect hawking), a habit that only a few other woodpeckers, such as the Acorn woodpecker, the Red-headed Woodpecker and the Northern flicker, engage in. Lewis's Woodpecker also feeds on berries and nuts, and will even shell and store nuts in cracks and holes in wood to store until winter.
Lewis's Woodpecker nests in a cavity excavated from a dead tree branch. The nest is constructed mainly by the male. The female will lay between 5 and 9 eggs, which are plain white in coloration. Incubation is done by both sexes – the female sitting during the day and the male sitting at night – and lasts approximately 12 days, after which the young will hatch. The young leave the nest 4 to 5 weeks after hatching.
