on the trunk of a tree, or even on the under side of a branch, where
its strong claws enable it to cling in almost any position or to move
about with astonishing rapidity and skill in any direction. Its stiff
tail feathers act as a prop and help to support it while hammering away
at the bark with its powerful beak. Forbush (1927) says that it “is the
embodiment of sturdy energy and persistent industry. Active, cheerful,
ever busy, its life of arduous toil brings but one reward, a liberal
sustenance. It sometimes spends nearly an hour of hard labor in digging
out a single borer, but commonly reaches the object of its quest in
much less time.”
_Voice._--The ordinary call of the hairy woodpecker is louder and
shriller than that of the downy. Francis H. Allen says, in his
notes, that it bears “about the same relation to it as the solitary
sandpiper’s _peet-weet_ does to that of the spotted sandpiper. I hear
it most frequently from the female. In fact, a female of the species
that visits my place at all times of the year often utters this note
continually, as if calling for a mate or claiming territory, but she
never nests very near.”
Bendire (1895) describes its ordinary note as “a shrill, rattling note,
_triii, triii_;” and again as several loud notes uttered on the wing,
like _huip, huip_. Forbush (1927) calls the ordinary note “a high,
sharp, rather metallic _chink_ or _click_.” Aretas A. Saunders (1929)
says: “The call is a loud ‘keep,’ like that of the downy woodpecker,
but louder. Another call is a loud rattle, suggesting that of the
Kingfisher, but slurring down the scale. Another call, ‘kuweek kuweek
kuweek kuweek,’ is used during the mating season, and suggests the
Flicker’s ‘oweeka.’”
_Field marks._--The hairy woodpecker is a large edition of the downy
woodpecker, a black and white woodpecker, white below and black above,
spotted with white on the wings, and with a broad white stripe down the
center of the back. Only the male has the red patch on the back of the
neck. It can be distinguished from the downy by its much larger size,
its more restless behavior, its relatively longer and larger bill, and
by the lateral tail feathers, which are pure white in the hairy and
somewhat barred with black in the downy.
_Enemies._--B. T. Gault, in his notes from Marshall County, Ill.,
states: “The hairy woodpecker is now a very rare breeder here owing to
the fact that the English sparrow appropriates almost every nest hole
as soon as it is excavated. I once saw one of these sparrows enter the
hole of one of these birds, take a newly hatched bird out in its bill,
flutter for an instant over the water (the nest was in a dead willow
snag standing in the overflowed Illinois River bottoms), and drop the
young bird into the water to drown. It then returned into the nest and
soon appeared with another newly hatched woodpecker in its bill. As it
fluttered over the water for an instant, my gun cracked and the sparrow
died.”
Verdi Burtch (1923) writes: “April 16, 1922, when in a thin wood I
heard a female hairy woodpecker making a great fuss as they do when one
invades the vicinity of their nest. As I neared the place I saw the
nest hole about twenty feet up in an elm stub. About ten feet away,
sitting erect on a limb of another tree, was a red squirrel eating
something that it held in its fore-paws. My 8-power binoculars showed
this to be a naked baby bird, presumably a hairy woodpecker and not
more than two or three days old.”
Mr. Shelley (1933) tells of a pair of hairy woodpeckers that were
twice, in the same season, driven out of their nest by starlings and
their eggs destroyed.
_Fall._--The Hairy woodpecker has often been said to be a permanent
resident on its breeding grounds, but this is not strictly true. The
species may be present all through the year over much of its range, but
there is evidence to indicate a general southward movement in fall; the
individuals seen in winter are probably not the same as those seen in
summer. Moreover, there is a noticeable increase in numbers in certain
localities in winter.
Lewis O. Shelley has sent me some full notes on the migration of hairy
woodpeckers, as he has observed it near East Westmoreland, N. H., from
which I quote as follows: “For four years I have watched, in the autumn
months, passing hairies that go through, some dropping down into the
valley to feed as they go along, but others passing over the valley
from hill to hill (2 miles) without stopping. In passing through,
they traverse in general the same route each year. They come from an
eastern and continue on in a western direction at an oblique angle
to the Connecticut River, which they must cross in the vicinity of
Brattleboro, Vt.
“These migrants usually appear here late in August or early in
September and continue to arrive at irregular intervals until late in
October. It is common for one, or two, rarely more, to pass together;
but such occurrences have happened, as on October 24, 1934, when,
beginning soon after noon and lasting until four o’clock, the birds
continued to pass through. At least 12 were seen as I walked up a
roadway parallel to their course; and other moving birds were heard. It
was also noticed that they kept spaced 40 to 50 yards apart, keeping
abreast of one another, traversing in a leisurely manner; and as they
approached a rock maple woods, the tendency was to close in like
passing through the neck of a bottle and, once through the woods, again
to spread out. Their progress was rather fast; and they fed little,
if at all. They often called, as though to locate each other, since
they were keeping about 40 yards apart, as was easily noted when they
crossed pasture and mowing land.
“I followed and watched in particular a male that continued keeping
along ahead of me. He repeatedly crossed the road in a zigzag manner.
Climbing to the top of a fence post or stump, he made lengthy
observations, probably noting the progress of the other birds, and
often answered their ringing calls. He, as well as the others, gave the
appearance of a stranger in a new environment, truly a migrant. I noted
how low the birds were passing, quite frequently flying not over 2 feet
from the ground over open spaces, where long, bounding flights were
made.”
L. McI. Terrill told Mr. Forbush (1927) that the few local breeding
birds disappear from the vicinity of Montreal early in autumn, and
others, in a very noticeable wave, appear toward the end of October or
early in November.
_Winter._--Aside from the regular migratory movements, the hairy
woodpecker is much more given to wandering about in winter. It is apt
to forsake its woodland haunts and travel about in search of food,
coming frequently into the farmer’s orchard, into rural villages, and
even into thickly settled communities in some of our larger cities.
Here it often joins the merry parties at our winter feeding stations,
feeding readily on the suet or scraps of meat provided for our
insect-eating birds; and here the smaller birds show due respect for
its larger size, or perhaps for its formidable beak, and it is usually
allowed to eat alone. It seems to be a solitary bird at this season,
for we seldom see more than one at a time. I find it not so constant
and regular a visitor to my feeding station as the downy woodpecker and
some other birds; it probably wanders about more.
Mr. Forbush (1927) writes: “During the inclement season it is said
to require a sheltered place in which to sleep and, like the downy
woodpecker, to excavate a hole in a tree for a sleeping chamber, but
there is evidence that it does not always seek such shelter, as the
late Charles E. Bailey and myself watched one for several winter
evenings in a grove, clinging upright against a tree trunk in the usual
woodpecker position. Night after night, the bird was there at dusk,
remained there until dark, and was there also at daybreak each morning
in precisely the same place.”
Joseph J. Hickey tells me that, around the lower Hudson River Valley
in winter, woodpeckers obtain much of their food by deliberately
scaling the bark off trees in search for their insect food. The Arctic
three-toed woodpeckers work mainly on pines and hemlocks, but the
hairies appear to confine their work to the hemlocks, using the same
methods as the three-toed.
DISTRIBUTION
_Range._--Northern and Central America; not regularly migratory.
The range of the hairy woodpecker extends =north= to Alaska (Kenai
Peninsula, Fairbanks, and Fort Egbert); Yukon (Forty Mile, Fort
Reliance, and Macmillan River); Mackenzie (Fort Wrigley, Lake Hardisty,
and Fort Resolution); northern Saskatchewan (mouth of the Charlot River
and Poplar Point); northern Manitoba (Grand Rapids, probably Fort
Churchill, and probably York Factory); Ontario (Hat Island and Cobalt);
Quebec (Blue Sea Lake, Quebec City, Godbout, Eskimo Bay, and Anticosti
Island); and Newfoundland (Nicholsville and Raleigh). From this point
the range extends =southward= along the Atlantic coast to southern
Florida (Eau Gallie); the western Bahama Islands (Great Bahama, Abaco,
and Andros); and Panama (Boquete). The =southern= boundary of the range
extends westward from Panama (Boquete); Nicaragua (San Rafael); western
Guatemala (Tecpam); Chiapas (San Cristobal); to Guerrero (Chilpancingo
and Omilteme). From this point, =northward= through the mountains of
western Mexico, northern Baja California (Sierra San Pedro Martir
and Sierra Juarez); and the coastal districts of California, Oregon,
Washington, and British Columbia, to Alaska (Chilkoot, Chitina Moraine,
and the Kenai Peninsula).
As outlined, the range is for the entire species, which has, however,
been so divided that no less than 13 subspecies are currently
recognized as occupying the range north of Mexico, while still others
occur in Central American countries. The typical eastern hairy
woodpecker (_D. v. villosus_), occurs in the Eastern United States
and southern Canada west to Manitoba, North Dakota, and Colorado
and south to North Caralina and central Texas. The northern hairy
woodpecker (_D. v. septentrionalis_) occupies the zone to the north,
from southeastern Quebec, northwestward to western Mackenzie, Yukon,
and central Alaska. The Newfoundland woodpecker (_D. v. terraenovae_)
is found only on the island of that name. The southern hairy woodpecker
(_D. v. auduboni_) occupies the southeastern part of the range from
Missouri, Illinois, and western Virginia south to southeastern Texas
and southern Florida. The Sitka hairy woodpecker (_D. v. sitkensis_) is
found in southeastern Alaska and northern British Columbia. The Queen
Charlotte woodpecker (_D. v. picoideus_) is found only on the group
of islands of that name off the coast of British Columbia. Harris’s
woodpecker (_D. v. harrisi_) occupies the coastal regions of southern
British Columbia south to northwestern California. Cabanis’s woodpecker
(_D. v. hyloscopus_) is confined to certain coastal and mountain areas
of California, chiefly in the southern part. The Lower California hairy
woodpecker (_D. v. scrippsae_) is restricted to the Sierra Juarez and
the Sierra San Pedro Martir of Baja California. The Modoc woodpecker
(_D. v. orius_) is found in the Sierra Nevada of central California
north to Oregon and Washington and east to Nevada. The Rocky Mountain
hairy woodpecker (_D. v. monticola_) is found through the Rocky
Mountain region from central British Columbia south to northern New
Mexico and east (in winter) to western South Dakota and Nebraska. The
white-breasted woodpecker (_D. v. leucothorectis_) is found chiefly
in Arizona and New Mexico but also east to central Texas and north
to southern Utah. The Chihuahua woodpecker (_D. v. icastus_) occurs
principally in western Mexico but occurs also in southern Arizona and
southwestern New Mexico.
_Migration._--As stated above, the hairy woodpeckers are generally
nonmigratory and may be found in midwinter even in the northern parts
of their range, as Alaska, Mackenzie (Fort Simpson), and Manitoba
(Aweme, Minnedosa, and Roseau River). Nevertheless, some individuals
are given to a certain amount of wandering during the winter months,
which explains the occasional records of some subspecies far outside
of their normal range. There also is more or less vertical migration
in the mountainous regions of the north and west, the birds descending
into the lower valleys during the winter season. This is noted
particularly in the Rocky Mountain form, which in winter has been taken
east to Nebraska and South Dakota.
Despite the fact that during the past 18 years several hundred
individuals of this species have been marked with numbered bands, and
many have been subsequently recaptured, there is no evidence that any
of these moved at any time more than a few miles from the point of
banding.
_Egg dates._--British Columbia: 8 records, April 27 to June 24.
California: 43 records, March 23 to June 21; 22 records, April 28
to May 29, indicating the height of the season.
Colorado: 10 records, May 5 to June 18.
Florida: 18 records, April 10 to May 16; 9 records, April 22 to 28.
Illinois: 8 records, May 1 to 23.
Iowa: 8 records, April 21 to May 15.
Labrador: 5 records, May 26 to 30.
Massachusetts: 17 records, May 1 to June 5; 9 records, May 10 to 19.
Ontario: 8 records, May 6 to June 16.
DRYOBATES VILLOSUS SEPTENTRIONALIS (Nuttall)
NORTHERN HAIRY WOODPECKER
HABITS
This large northern race of the hairy woodpecker inhabits the Canadian
Zone of northern North America, north almost to the limit of trees,
from central Alaska and northern Canada southward. In the eastern
portions of southern Canada it intergrades with typical _villosus_, and
in northwestern Montana with _monticola_, where the ranges of these
races meet. Specimens have been taken as far north as Fort Simpson, on
the Mackenzie River, in latitude 62° N., and at Fort Reliance, on the
upper Yukon River, Alaska, in about latitude 66° N. It may occur as
a straggler farther north, where it can find sufficient tree growth,
but it is said to be rare north of latitude 56° N., and apparently
it does not reach the Arctic coast or the coast of Bering Sea. It is
a decidedly larger bird than typical _villosus_, the white markings
average rather larger, and the white is purer. In the southern portion
of its range, where it begins to intergrade with _villosus_, these
characters are, of course, less pronounced and many individuals are
difficult to name.
Living in a region over much of which coniferous forests predominate,
this woodpecker frequents and breeds in this type of forest. Winton and
Donald Weydemeyer (1928) say that it is an abundant permanent resident
in Lincoln County, Mont., where it intergrades with _monticola_. They
also say:
In the valleys it is most numerous, during summer,
in forests containing a large percentage stand of
western larch (_Larix occidentalis_). The next trees
in attractiveness seem to be Douglas fir (_Pseudotsuga
taxifolia_), western yellow pine (_Pinus ponderosa_), and
Engelmann spruce (_Picea engelmanni_), in the order named.
In the Hudsonian zone it frequents trees of white-bark pine
(_Pinus albicaulis_) and alpine larch (_Larix lyallii_).
The species is noticeably rare or absent in forests
containing nearly pure stands of western white pine (_Pinus
monticola_), arborvitae (_Thuja plicata_), or lodgepole
pine (_Pinus contorta_), except where the woods have been
logged or injured by fire.
_Nesting._--The same observers say: “In Lincoln County this species
uses a wide variety of nesting sites. Of eight nests included in our
records, three were in live aspens; one in a live cottonwood; one in a
live larch; one in a dead larch, one in a dead Douglas fir; and one in
a woodpecker nesting box.”
Ernest Thompson Seton (1890) found a nest in a tall poplar tree about
30 feet from the ground, in Manitoba; the hole was about a foot deep,
3 inches wide inside and 2 inches at the entrance. John Macoun (1909)
quotes Rev. C. J. Young as saying: “Most of the nests I have seen have
been in wet places or near water, and almost all were in white ash
trees, from thirty to fifty feet from the ground. Two nests were in elm
trees and one in a telegraph pole by the roadside not more than ten
feet from the ground.”
Roderick MacFarlane (1908) writes: “On the 6th of May, 1885, Mr. Reid
discovered a nest in a hole in a dry standing poplar tree near Fort
Providence. There were eight eggs therein, and the parent was seen
and shot. * * * At Fort St. James, Stuart’s Lake, on the 25th of May,
1889, a native hunter found a nest holding four fresh eggs in a similar
position. Both parents in this instance were also observed near by and
shot. On 4th June, in the same locality, an Indian girl brought us
four eggs. * * * The nest was found in a hole in a dry pine tree, at a
height of several feet above the ground.”
Henry Mousley (1916) says that near Hatley, Quebec, “as a rule the nest
hole is somewhat high up but on one occasion I found one which was only
three feet above the ground in a birch stub, containing four eggs, the
entrance hole being two inches in diameter, extreme depth eleven inches
and average width two and three quarters inches.”
P. B. Philipp and B. S. Bowdish (1919), referring to northern New
Brunswick, say: “A nest with young was found in a dead maple stub in
a burnt barren, on May 29, 1917. On May 30 of the same year another
nest about fifteen feet up in a dead maple stub in a similar situation,
contained four eggs, very slightly incubated. On June 9, 1917, a third
nest in a cedar telephone pole beside a public road was examined. It
was at a height of about nine feet; cavity 14½ inches deep; entrance 2⅛
inches in height by 2¼ inches in width. This nest contained four nearly
fresh eggs.”
_Eggs._--The northern hairy woodpecker lays three to five eggs; the
eight eggs mentioned above by MacFarlane may have been the product
of two females or eggs of the boreal flicker; in the latter case the
collector may have shot the wrong parent. The eggs are like those
of the eastern hairy woodpecker but average slightly larger. The
measurements of 41 eggs average 25.39 by 20.10 millimeters; the eggs
showing the four extremes measure =28.45= by 22.10, 27.43 by =22.35=,
and =21.5= by =16.6= millimeters.
The plumage changes, food, behavior, voice, and other habits apparently
do not differ materially from those of its southern relative. It is
said to be a permanent resident throughout its range, but there is
probably some southward migration or wandering from at least the
northern portion of its range and perhaps from the southern parts also.
That some individuals remain far north in winter is shown by the fact
that the Fort Simpson specimen was taken on December 29, 1860. The
Weydemeyers (1928) say that during winter, in northwestern Montana,
“this woodpecker is commonly found in mixed broad-leaf and conifer
associations along streams, but it is most abundant at that season in
the larch woods of the valleys.”
DRYOBATES VILLOSUS AUDUBONI (Swainson)
SOUTHERN HAIRY WOODPECKER
PLATE 5
HABITS
In the Lower Austral Zone of the South Atlantic and Gulf States we find
this small race of the hairy woodpecker. In addition to being decidedly
smaller than its northern relative, the white of the under parts is
less pure, and the white markings of the upper parts are somewhat
smaller.
Arthur H. Howell (1932) says of its haunts in Florida: “The southern
hairy woodpecker, though not particularly shy, prefers the wilder
sections for its home. It occurs in a variety of situations--the open
pine forests, oak hammocks, and the hardwoods of the deep river swamps.
The birds are of a rather solitary disposition, and rarely is more than
a single bird or a pair found near together.”
_Nesting._--Mr. Howell (1932) says that “the nests are located 12 to 45
feet from the ground in holes excavated in dead oaks or willow stubs,
or in cypresses growing on the edge of a swamp.” S. A. Grimes (1932)
says: “A nest thirty feet up in a live cypress near Eastport [Florida]
held three eggs on April 13. Two well feathered young were found in
a hole fifteen feet up in a dead sweet gum in southern Duval County
on May 13. A nest eight feet up in a pine stub in northern St. Johns
County contained three heavily incubated eggs on May 11.”
Arthur T. Wayne (1910) says that in South Carolina “the nest is very
hard to find; indeed I have found but six nests, two which contained
eggs, and four which contained young. I have known this species to
excavate a hole and raise a brood in a limb of a living live oak tree,
but it generally excavates its hole in a dead tree and at a great
height. A set of three fresh eggs was taken April 7, 1898, from a hole
40 feet from the ground in a dead pine. This hole was 14 inches deep.
The young remain in the hole for more than a month after they are
hatched.”
Harold H. Bailey (1913) says that in Virginia “dead stubs of gum and
poplar treetops seem to be their favorite location for a nesting site,
varying from 25 to 60 feet up, the cavity from eight to twelve inches
deep. They are one of our earliest breeding birds, the drilling of the
nesting cavity beginning the last week in March, and by April 10th to
15th finds a full complement or set of eggs, numbering from four to
six.”
J. G. Suthard writes to me of a nest he found near Madisonville, Ky.
The cavity was “excavated in a dead crab apple stub in open woodland.
Only the female was observed excavating the hole and caring for the
eggs, which proved to be infertile. No male was ever observed near the
nesting stub, though it was carefully observed.” M. G. Vaiden tells me
of a nest 9 feet up in a chinaberry tree in a yard at Rosedale, Miss.,
and another that was 23 feet up in a pecan tree and 3 feet out in a
dead snag.
_Eggs._--The southern hairy woodpecker is said to lay three to six
eggs. The latter number must be unusual, as the set generally consists
of three or four eggs. The eggs are scarcely distinguishable from
those of other hairy woodpeckers, though they average somewhat smaller
than those of the more northern races. The measurements of 42 eggs
average 21.29 by 18.29 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes
measure =26.1= by 19.2, 25.8 by =19.8=, =21= by 19, and 23.8 by =16.6=
millimeters.
_Food._--Major Bendire (1895) says that this subspecies seems to be
fonder of fruit and berries than are the northern races and that “the
young are fed largely on figs.” Audubon (1842) says that in the salt
marshes about the mouths of the Mississippi “it alights against the
stalks of the largest and tallest reeds, and perforates them as it is
wont to bore into trees. * * * I have often observed it clinging to the
stalks of the sugar-cane, boring them, and apparently greatly enjoying
the sweet juices of that plant; and when I have seen it, in severe
winter weather, attempting to bore the dried stalks of maize, I have
thought it expected to find in them something equally pleasing to its
taste.”
Milton P. Skinner (1928) says of these birds, in the sandhills of North
Carolina: “In winter the hairy woodpeckers vary their diet of insects
with various berries and dried wild fruits. They are particularly fond
of the small black berries of the sour gum (_Nyssa sylvatica_). Soon
after the early frosts the birds flock to these swamp trees and feast
as long as the berries last.”
The main food supply of this and other woodpeckers consists of insects
and their larvae, which are obtained by searching in the crevices in
the bark of whatever trees are available, or drilling into the trunks
and branches to find the grubs. Mr. Skinner (1928) saw one working on
“a charred and dead stub of a shrub oak. Here it worked steadily for
fifteen minutes pulling out small white grubs and borers. It drove its
bill for three or four strokes up under a bit of bark and then pried
the bark off with its bill as a lever. Then it attacked the semi-rotten
wood so uncovered, directly. It did not seem to work so fast as a downy
woodpecker, but then it was so busy eating grubs that it did not have
to dig much.”
_Behavior._--The same observer says: