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.”
_Spring and courtship._--As spring advances, the downy woodpecker
seems to wake up; it attracts our notice by its more frequent notes
and increased activity. During the cold months of the year the bird
has been comparatively silent, although even in the depth of winter we
may occasionally hear its single _chip_ and even the long whinny, but
in April, for so sedate a bird, it becomes a lively personality; it
moves about quickly--sometimes with lightninglike agility--and takes a
voluble interest in the members of its own species.
Francis H. Allen, in his notes, gives the two following graphic
accounts of the initial stage of the bird’s courtship: “April 10, 1904.
West Roxbury, Mass. I found two downy woodpeckers courting--at least, I
suppose that was what they were up to. They acted like mating flickers,
chasing each other about from tree to tree, keeping almost constantly
on the move and only pausing now and then to execute a sort of dance,
spreading their wings and tails. From time to time I heard from them a
long call resembling the flicker’s _whick, whick whick whick_, etc.,
but higher pitched than the flicker’s and, of course, not so loud. Less
often I heard another note--a softer, slighter, more hurried call,
similar in quality. I did not make out whether, these two calls were
made by different sexes, nor did I positively make out that the birds
were a pair, they kept in such constant motion. At least once one lit
crosswise of a twig. At last one flew off, and then the familiar and
characteristic long call of a downy sounded from another direction, and
the remaining bird flew over to the third bird, which was clinging to
the trunk of an elm. Then these two stayed in each other’s company but
did not conduct so elaborate a dance as the first couple.
“All this time a fourth bird had been drumming on a tree not far away.
I went up to the place and timed the drum calls, finding each roll to
last about two seconds. I could not count the taps, but thought they
numbered eight or ten to each roll. While I watched this bird, another
downy came along, sounding the flickerlike call, but rather faintly,
and the drummer flew to join her. They flew off together. I believe
it is only the male that drums, and I think it probable that the bird
that answered the drummer was the one that had taken part in the dance
before described, for that bird when she left her partner had flown off
in this direction.
“April 8, 1917. West Roxbury. Watched a pair courting this morning for
several minutes. Both sexes had a curious ‘weaving’ action, moving the
head and whole body from side to side on the tip of the tail as a pivot
with the neck stretched out and bill pointed on a line with the body,
and the whole body elongated. They did this both when clinging to the
side of a trunk and when on a horizontal or slanting branch. They were
silent but very active, flitting one after the other from branch to
branch and tree to tree, but making only short flights. The waving, or
‘weaving,’ motion of the head was rather rapid, perhaps two waves, that
is from left to right and back again, in about a second--but this is
stated from general impressions and memory only. These birds did not
spread the wings and tail as did the courting pair observed on April
10, 1904, and, as stated, they uttered no note.”
My notes refer to a bit of courtship observed during the actual
breeding season, May 11, 1911, in a wooded swamp in Lexington, Mass.,
where the species used to nest every year. The female bird was perched
motionless along a horizontal limb of a tree, and the male was poised
in the air just behind and a little above her. He was hovering. His
wings were more than half spread, I should say, and waving slowly up
and down, a maneuver which displayed finely the rows of white spots on
the flight feathers and coverts.
William Brewster (1936), in his Concord journal under date of May 5,
1905, notes another form of courtship. He says: “At 8 A. M. saw a
pair of Downy Woodpeckers in young oaks behind Ball’s Hill, behaving
very strangely. They kept flying from tree to tree, flapping their
wings slowly and feebly like butterflies, sometimes moving on a level
plane, sometimes in long loops, occasionally sailing from tree to tree
in a long _deep_ loop. Their wings had a strange fin-like appearance
due, probably, to the way they were held or flexed. They both uttered
a low, harsh, chattering cry, almost incessantly. No doubt this was a
love performance, but they were male and female and both ‘showed off’
in the same way.”
Lewis O. Shelley (1932), who, at East Westmoreland, N. H., has had an
extensive experience with banded birds throughout the year, describes
the courtship thus:
Courtship activities begin rather early with the male’s
tattooing commencing in the warm days of March. I believe
the most active mating display is given by a new male that
desires a mate, not by a male mated the previous year whose
mate is still living. The latter male seems to give a
protective display to its rival, seemingly just enough to
hold his mate’s trust.