not seriously affect the vitality of the trees; the pits
are but 4 to 5 mm. deep, penetrating only those outer
layers of the bark which after a time scale off. We should
judge that all evidence of this woodpecker’s work is thus
removed through natural process within about three years.
The heartwood of the tree therefore seems not to be damaged
at all by the woodpecker’s work; it _is_ damaged, however,
by the work of the true sapsucker. Our inference from
these facts is that the willow woodpecker feeds on the
inner layers of bark, which the bird exposes through the
perforations described above. We watched a bird at work;
moreover, bits of inner bark-fibers were found adhering to
the bristles around the bill of a bird shot.
Evidently this observation and report started the same old controversy
that arose in connection with the eastern bird, which has been referred
to under that subspecies. Charles W. Michael intimated, in course of
conversation with Dr. Grinnell, that they were mistaken in ascribing
these drillings to willow woodpeckers rather than to red-breasted
sapsuckers. This led to the publication, by Dr. Grinnell (1928a), of
the evidence produced by Mr. Michael and himself, to which the reader
is referred. In spite of some evidence, and more supposed evidence,
to the contrary, it now seems to be generally conceded that the downy
woodpeckers seldom, if ever, drill these holes for themselves, but that
they often feed from holes drilled by sapsuckers. The small amount of
drilling done by the downy woodpeckers seems to do the trees no great
harm.
_Behavior._--Grinnell and Storer (1924) write:
The quietness of the willow woodpecker, as compared with
most other species in its family, is noteworthy. We heard
no single call note from it, and only at long intervals
did we hear the indescribable short trill characteristic
of this bird. Individuals are much restricted in range,
foraging along a relatively short line of cottonwoods or
willows day after day. Once a bird is located, it can
usually be found in the same place regularly. When foraging
it moves about with very little commotion, and even when
drilling for insects works so quietly that only a keen
auditor can detect its presence. No matter what the season
of the year, a pair of these birds is to be found usually
within hearing of each other. The bird’s close adherence
to deciduous trees makes it more conspicuous and easier to
observe in late fall and winter than in the summertime when
the trees are fully leaved out; but even in winter, our
experience with the willow woodpecker led us to consider
it about the most elusive of all the diurnal birds of the
Yosemite region.
We had always supposed that the rapid series of notes
uttered by this species were given only by the adult male
and hence constituted a sort of song. But on June 24, 1920,
in Yosemite Valley a juvenile male was found, with his head
out of a nest hole eight feet above the ground in a dead
branch of a live willow, giving every few moments this very
series of notes. The large _crown_ patch of red on this
bird established its age and sex clearly. There was every
indication that the notes were being given as a food call.
M. P. Skinner contributes the following note:
One seen in Sequoia National Park in August was drilling
at the bases of willow shoots near a river. It perched
lengthwise of the stems. It managed to keep well hidden,
but worked industriously and did not change its position
much during the short time that I could see it. Later,
I caught a glimpse occasionally of the woodpecker’s red
head, although the bird kept hidden most of the time. This
reminded me that I had often wondered why red usually
marked a woodpecker’s head. Certainly it makes a wonderful
recognition mark. In that way it might well be that red on
the constantly moving head of the woodpecker would be of
value to the race.
DRYOBATES BOREALIS (Vieillot)
RED-COCKADED WOODPECKER
PLATES 9, 10
HABITS
CONTRIBUTED BY EUGENE EDMOND MURPHEY
Introduced to ornithology by Wilson under the name of _Picus querulus_,
the red-cockaded woodpecker is locally common throughout the open
pine country of the South Atlantic and Gulf States and extends its
range into the pine country of Oklahoma and Missouri. Its preference
is very definitely for the open woods, shunning the dense thickets
of second-growth pine and the deep recesses of the cypress swamps
even when the latter are only a few hundred yards away from its
chosen environment. These open pine woods, which abound both in the
Austro-Riparian and Carolinian Zones of the South Atlantic and Gulf
States, represent not a normal growth of pine forest but an original
pine forest modified by the pernicious custom of annually burning the
woods under the impression that in that way next year’s pasturage will
be improved.
As a result, the younger trees and seedlings are killed off. Only the
hardier and more resistant survivors remain, so that there is little or
no underbrush and the general appearance of these woods is more that
of an open glade or park than of typical pine forest. William Brewster
(1882) comments on the character of these forests as follows: “The pine
lands of the South have an open park-like character that is a continual
surprise to one accustomed only to New England forests. The trees
rarely stand in close proximity to one another, and they are often so
widely scattered that the general effect is that of an opening rather
than a forest.” These pines are chiefly _Pinus palustris_ Miller,
_Pinus ellioti_ Engelmann, and _Pinus taeda_ Linnaeus.
From many sections of the South where it was formerly common, the
red-cockaded woodpecker has disappeared by reason of the ruthless
destruction of pine forests by the lumbermen. When the large timber is
cut out, the birds leave the locality and apparently do not return.
However, there is still a considerable amount of pine forest suitable
for its nesting that is held in private hands and not about to be
destroyed. In fact, such timber holdings are largely on the increase,
particularly in the “low country” of South Carolina and Georgia and
in certain zones around Thomasville, Ga., and Aiken, S. C., where vast
tracts are being conserved by private ownership as game refuges and
shooting preserves.
There is also a very considerable amount of intelligent reforestation
being carried out, which in time will also furnish adequate and
suitable breeding grounds. This species is so highly specialized at
least in the South Atlantic States in its habits and its choice of
environment that the destruction of the pine forests would probably put
its existence in serious jeopardy.
_Nesting._--Audubon (1842) stated that “the nest is not unfrequently
bored in a decayed stump about thirty feet high.” G. W. Morse (1927)
found the bird nesting in a willow tree in a pasture in Oklahoma. M.
G. Vaiden (MS.) reports from Collins, Miss., the taking of a nest
from a pine tree, the top of which was dead and the nest hole about 8
feet from the top. Arthur T. Wayne (1906), who has probably had more
intimate experience with this bird than any other observer, states:
I have seen perhaps a thousand holes in which this
woodpecker had bred or was breeding, and _every one_ was
excavated in a _living_ pine tree, ranging from eighteen
to one hundred feet above the ground. This bird never lays
its eggs until the pine gum pours freely from beneath and
around the hole, and in order to accelerate the flow the
birds puncture the bark to the “skin” of the tree thereby
causing the gum to exude freely. This species, unlike the
Pileated Woodpecker, returns to the same hole year after
year until it can no longer make the gum exude. But like
the Pileated Woodpecker, it is much attached to the tree
in which it has first made its nest, and as long as it can
find a suitable spot it will continue to excavate new holes
until the tree is _killed_ by this process of boring. I
have frequently counted as many as four holes in one tree,
and in two instances I have seen as many as eight. These
birds seem to know by instinct that the center of the tree
is rotten, or what lumber men call “black-heart,” and they
never make a mistake when selecting a tree! The hole is
bored through the solid wood, generally a little upward,
and to the center of the tree (which is always rotten).
The overwhelming majority of observers who have studied the
red-cockaded woodpecker in its normal habitat concur in the opinion
that the site of selection for the nest hole is in a living pine that,
however, has begun to rot at the core, and this condition of the
heart of the tree the birds seem to be able to discern with unfailing
accuracy. All the nests I have seen and studied were in living pines,
and other ornithologists have made similar observations. T. Gilbert
Pearson (1909) says: “So far as I have observed, always excavated
in the trunk of a living pine tree. The site chosen varies from
twenty-five to fifty feet from the earth.” H. L. Harllee (MS.), of
Florence, S. C, writes: “It nests in the same hole each year in close
proximity to several pairs, usually from two to four.” The observations
of Gilbert R. Rossignol (MS.), writing from Savannah, Ga., agree with
the foregoing. He states: “Before the lumberman invaded our great pine
forests, the red-cockaded was fairly common, for I have found 10 or 12
pairs nesting in a 50-acre tract, provided, of course, that the pine
trees were not too close to one another. These little woodpeckers did
not like dark heavily timbered forests. The bird drills a hole in a
living pine ranging from 25 to 80 or more feet high, and it is almost
impossible to get the eggs without full equipment. It takes a brace
and bit to bore holes a little above where you think the bottom of the
nest is located, and then sometimes you strike below it, or again right
into it on an incomplete set or no eggs at all. The eggs I have found
were always more or less sticky with pine gum. This bird will nest in
the same hole for several years and use the same tree probably during
its entire life, but if the tree dies, or the gum does not flow freely,
the birds will desert their old home.” Henry Nehrling (1882), writing
from Texas, states that “it usually excavates its nesting sites in
deciduous trees,” and E. A. McIlhenny (Bendire, 1895) that “in southern
Louisiana it generally nests in willow and china trees.” The nesting
hole is bored usually slightly upward for several inches then straight
through into the softer unsound heart of the tree and downward for 8
inches to a foot or more. The nest cavity is gourd-shaped, and the
eggs are laid upon fine chips and debris in the bottom of the cavity.
The most striking thing about the nesting site, however, is due to the
bird’s custom of drilling numerous small holes through the bark of the
tree until the resin exudes freely. This glazed patch of gum around
the nesting hole is unmistakable and when once seen becomes an easy
landmark for the location of the nests, inasmuch as it may be discerned
through the open woods for a distance of several hundred yards. During
the period of incubation, the birds are a sorry spectacle, the abdomen
being largely denuded of feathers, as is customary with many birds,
and the breast feathers from the clavicle to the end of the sternum
begaumed and matted together with resin, and, in fact, they remain
permanently unfit to be taken as specimens until the next molting has
been completed.
The nidification is earlier along the coast and southward than in
the interior and toward the northern limits of its range, beginning
sometimes as early as February, but the major nesting season may be
said to be the last week in April and the first week in May.
S. A. Grimes tells us that old nests of this species are used by
red-bellied and red-headed woodpeckers, white-breasted nuthatches,
bluebirds, crested flycatchers, and flying squirrels.
_Eggs._--The eggs vary from three to five in number, the latter being
unusual; they are elliptically ovate in shape, pure glossy white,
and semitranslucent when fresh. Not infrequently they are stained or
smeared with resin from the breast feathers of the incubating bird. As
a rule only one brood is raised in a season unless the first set has
been taken, and both parents participate in incubation. There is some
evidence tending to show that the eggs and even the unfledged young
are sometimes thrown out of the nest by the birds when it has been
disturbed.
The measurements of 50 eggs average 24.04 by 17.86 millimeters; the
eggs showing the four extremes measure =26.42= by 18.54, 26.4 by
=19.8=, =21.38= by 17.46, and 23.77 by =16.66= millimeters.
_Plumages._--The young in their first plumage bear the general color
pattern of the adults with this important exception--the young male has
a dull crimson oval central crown patch. However, while the pattern is
identical with that of adult birds, the black is replaced by a dark
sepia merging at times into an aniline black, and the bluish gloss
evident on the crowns of the mature birds is lacking. Similarly, the
feathers of the cheek patch in both sexes lack the fine silky gloss and
texture that are later attained. The underparts show uniformly a buffy
or ochraceous wash everywhere, and the barring of the tail is more
pronounced. During this phase, the plumage is much softer and looser
than it subsequently becomes.
With the first molt, the red crown patch is lost.
It is the belief of the writer, without sufficient specimens properly
to verify it, that the cockades of the full adult male plumage are not
attained until at least the third molt. Without careful dissection
and sex determination of the immature birds, a fact notoriously
difficult to the average ornithologist, the young of both sexes, after
the crown patch is lost and the cockades have not appeared, would be
indistinguishable.
_Food._--The food, like that of most woodpeckers, consists primarily of
larvae of various wood-boring insects, although beetles and grubs of
other kinds as well as ants, grasshoppers, crickets, and caterpillars
are frequently taken. An interesting habit of the red-cockaded
woodpecker is that of going into the cornfields throughout the South
at the time when the corn is at the roasting-ear stage and when many
of the ears are infested with a worm that damages the grain to a very
considerable extent. This habit is reported by Billy Ward (1930), of
Timmonsville, S. C., and by Edward Dingle (1926), of Mount Pleasant, S.
C., who says, “The Red-cockaded Woodpecker (_Phrenopicus borealis_) is
very commonly found in cornfields during the time the corn is in the
ear; in fact, the bird spends a large part of its time at this season
in extracting the worms that bore into the ears of corn. I have often,
at short distance, watched them engaged in this valuable work.” They
also feed on pine mast, the small wild grape, pokeberries, and other
small wild fruit. I have never seen them in orchards or in fig trees,
where the red-headed woodpecker is frequently found feeding.
As far as is known, this species does not visit cultivated fields,
except as above referred to, or orchards and is not destructive to
fruit and deserves to be regarded as wholly beneficial. This statement
takes into account the fact that a number of observers say that they
will continue to bore into certain pines that they have selected for a
nesting site until the tree is killed. The fact is, however, that the
tree is diseased and unsound before the woodpecker begins to utilize it
and is already worthless for lumber, so that this species seems worthy
of complete protection.
_Behavior._--The bird is strikingly gregarious as compared with other
woodpeckers and is ordinarily to be found in small groups of six,
eight, or even ten individuals, which seem to keep in continuous touch
with one another, calling back and forth, sounding their drum roll on
resonant timber and apparently not satisfied unless assured of the near
presence of the group.
This behavior is no doubt due to the fact that the family remains
together until early in winter, although family groups are probably
joined by other individuals until the number above referred to is
attained. Numerous observers speak of the frequent association of the
red-cockaded woodpecker with other birds. This to the mind of the
writer, however, is purely accidental and is due to the fact that
there are certain species of birds that inhabit the open pineries and
have common feeding ground and habitat. It is true that one often sees
bluebirds, tufted titmice, white-breasted and brown-headed nuthatches,
and red-cockaded woodpeckers in the same woodland and that when
sitting quietly and concealed all the species mentioned pass in review
before the observer, but probably it is not a true gregariousness that
embraces all these various species; rather the restlessness that so
frequently seems to possess the avian population of a given tract of
woods communicates itself from one to the other and the entire avifauna
of a limited patch of woodland begins to move in a certain direction
perhaps because of some alarm which has been communicated from one
member of the group to the others.
These woodpeckers are exceedingly active, galloping from one tree to
another and rapidly ascending it in quest of food or apparently often
merely to secure a better observation point somewhere near the top of
the tree. Their usual custom is to ascend the tree in spirals, although
they have frequently been observed to continue a straight course up
the trunk particularly when feeding. The bird may be described as wary
rather than shy and is most adept at the familiar woodpecker trick
of keeping the trunk of the tree between an approaching observer and
itself.
As a rule they do not feed close to the ground, nor have I ever
observed one on the ground even after the burning of a woodland, at
which time the flicker and the red-bellied woodpecker may both be
observed on the ground searching for grubs and insects killed by
the blaze. Dr. Irving Phinizy (MS.) states that he has on several
occasions observed the red-cockaded woodpecker descend a tree in a
series of backward hops. This the writer has never observed. Arthur H.
Howell (1932) states that the ivorybill inches backward down a tree,
a somewhat different procedure. Frequently also they are observed,
particularly when feeding near the top of a pine and out toward the end
of a limb, to descend the hanging limb nuthatch fashion. Much of their
feeding is done in the highest branches of the trees, and they seem
to have a predilection for remaining there, spending a considerable
portion of their time in the very crown of the tree, where they are
very difficult to see.
They are exceedingly quarrelsome, particularly during the breeding
season, yet their quarrels do not seem to be so serious or so prolonged
as those of the red-headed woodpecker; and not infrequently, after the
lapse of a very little time, birds that have been scolding one another
most extensively again alight on the same pine tree and go about their
respective businesses in perfect amity.
C. J. Maynard (1896) states, concerning its habits, as follows:
Wilson called the Cockaded Woodpeckers, _Picus querulus_,
and this seems, at first glance, to be a most appropriate
name, for, of all the family, these are not only the most
noisy, but their notes are given in a decidedly fretful
tone as if the birds were constantly in an irritable state
of mind. It must have been upon the impulse of the moment,
however, that the Pioneer Ornithologist gave them the
name of Querulus Woodpeckers, for a close study of their
habits gives a very different impression of them. They
are, in fact, a most jovial class of birds, being almost
constantly engaged in sporting about the tops of tall pines
or chasing one another from tree to tree, uttering their
peevish sounding notes very frequently when in the best
humor. The noise is more noticeable because they congregate
in flocks, and it is quite rare to find even a pair without
other companions. They are also fond of the company of
other members of the family and will even associate with
the Jays, Blue Birds, or Warblers. This gregarious instinct
does not forsake them during the breeding season, for
they build in detached communities. The nests are almost
always in living pines, often thirty or forty feet from the
ground; thus, as the trunks of these trees are covered with
a smooth bark, it is quite difficult to climb them and,
when the nests are reached it is not easy to cut the hard
wood, especially as the straight trunks afford no foot-hold.
In flight, the cockaded woodpeckers resemble the downy
but when they alight they strike the object upon which
they wish to rest very hard. Like the preceding species,
they are also exceedingly agile, moving spirally up the
tall tree trunks with great celerity. Although they will
occasionally alight near the ground, yet they spend the
greater part of their time in the tops of the lofty pines;
in fact, they pass a large portion of their lives there,
for they are seldom, if ever, found elsewhere than in the
piney woods and they inhabit this kind of woodland even to
the extreme southern portion of the main-land of Florida.
The bird is resident throughout its normal range, although David V.
Hembree, of Roswell, Ga., in the very foothills of the Appalachian
Range, a lifelong student and collector of birds, writes me, “This
bird does not breed in this locality. I have never seen a nest. A few
are found here, nearly always males in April or May, and I have always
thought them to be migrants or strays from their regular range.”
In common with the other small black and white woodpeckers, this
species carries the vernacular name of sapsucker and in the main is
not differentiated from the others, although one astute lumberman once
said to me: “Speaking of sapsuckers, there _is_ a piney-woods sapsucker
which is different from the others, leastways he acts different.”
_Voice._--The voice is variously described by different observers--
“harsh and discordant,” “almost exactly resembling the calls of the
Brownheaded Nuthatch,” “resembling the yank-yank of a White-breasted
Nuthatch,” “they have sharp calls more like loud sparrow alarms than
woodpecker notes,” “resembling the querulous cries of young birds.”
The bird is noisy, and its call notes and scolding notes are to the ear
of the writer quite radically different, the scolding note being more
prolonged, somewhat rolling in character and lower in pitch. There is
a definite nasal character to a note that to that extent does resemble
the notes of the nuthatch. The note is quite characteristic and when
once learned is distinguishable with ease from that of the other small
woodpeckers. It resembles more the high note of some small woodwind
instrument than anything else, having a definite clarinetlike quality.
Descriptions of bird notes are notoriously variable because of
the variability of the human ear, and many attempts at phonetic
reproduction of the bird notes are unsuccessful, and when, as is so
often done, the attempt is directed to reproduction in syllables, the
result is usually a futile and meaningless onomatopoeia.
DISTRIBUTION
_Range._--Southeastern United States; nonmigratory.
The range of the red-cockaded woodpecker extends =north= to
northeastern Oklahoma (Copan); southern Missouri (Shannon County);
Tennessee (Beersheba and Allardt); and North Carolina (Red Springs and
Beaufort). =East= on the Atlantic coast from North Carolina (Beaufort)
to southern Florida (Long Pine Key). =South= on the Gulf coast from the
Florida Keys (Long Pine Key) to southeastern Texas (Houston). =West= to
Texas (Houston); northwestern Louisiana (Mansfield); probably western
Arkansas (Mena); and eastern Oklahoma (Tulsa and Copan).
_Casual records._--It seems probable that this species may breed or
upon occasion has bred in the vicinity of Raleigh, N. C., as it was
noted there several times in April from 1890 to 1898. It also has
been reported as seen at Piney Creek, N. C., on July 6, 1932, and on
September 12, 1933.
A specimen in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia was
collected near that city in 1861; one in the collection of the Ohio
State University was taken near Columbus, Ohio, on March 15, 1872.
According to Stone (1909) the collection of George N. Lawrence
contained a specimen taken near Hoboken, N. J.
_Egg dates._--Florida: 30 records, April 3 to May 28; 15 records,
April 29 to May 20, indicating the height of the season.
South Carolina: 14 records, April 27 to May 28.
DRYOBATES SCALARIS SYMPLECTUS Oberholser
TEXAS WOODPECKER
HABITS