Valley] several hours, on the morning of April 23, 1883,
collecting birds, and spying a clump of elder bushes in
the distance, not far from the brook, the thought occurred
to me that I might take a rest beneath their shade and
at the same time be ready for any bird that put in an
appearance. These bushes, or more properly trees, are a
great deal larger shrub than our eastern plant, their
trunks growing from 4 to 8 inches through; and if they
are not the same species, their umbellate blossoms are
strikingly similar, if not identical, to those of our
common eastern shrub (_Sambucus canadensis_). I had hardly
seated myself on an arm of the shrub when my attention was
attracted to a hole in the main trunk, directly above my
head. At almost the same instant a bird appeared at the
opening from within, and dodged back again as soon as she
saw me. The movement was executed so quickly that I was
unable to tell whether it was a wren or a woodpecker, but
concluded that it was the latter. Upon examination of the
aperture it seemed to have been lately made. Of course I
thought that there would be no trouble in dislodging her,
and commenced to rap on the trunk of the shrub with the
butt of my gun; but this seemed to have no effect. I then
walked back about 50 feet, and taking a stand, waited from
ten to fifteen minutes in the hope that she would come out,
affording me an opportunity to secure her and thus solve
the mystery, but in this maneuver I was also baffled. I
then went up to the bush and shouted with all my might,
but this did not shake her nervous system in the least,
when I finally resorted to my jackknife in order to enlarge
the orifice, but, from its being such a tedious job, gave
it up in disgust. The next morning I took a hatchet along
with me, for I desired very much to know what that hole
contained. It did not take me very long to cut a place
large enough for me to get my hand in, and I was thoroughly
surprised to learn that the bird was still on her nest. I
pulled her out, and she appeared to be stupefied--dead,
apparently--but soon revived. Upon further inspection I
found that the nest contained eggs. The bird proved to be a
female Nuttall’s woodpecker, and the eggs were pretty well
advanced in incubation and would have hatched in a few days.
The nest, which was about 5½ feet from the ground, was
nearly a foot deep and about 5 inches wide. The hole at the
entrance to the nest was but a little larger than a silver
half dollar. The eggs were six in number.
Mr. Dawson’s (1923) remarks on the nesting of this woodpecker are
rather cryptic, but I infer from them that it nests in willows, alders,
elders, cottonwoods, sycamores, live oaks, and other oaks and at
heights varying from 2½ to 60 feet above ground. The only nest of this
species that I have seen was shown to me by A. M. Ingersoll, while
collecting with him and James B. Dixon, in San Diego County, Calif.,
on April 9, 1929; the nest, which the birds had not quite finished
excavating, was about 30 feet from the ground in a leaning, dead
cottonwood tree (pl. 11). A set of four eggs in my collection was taken
by Henry W. Carriger, on April 23, 1897, in Sonoma County, Calif.; the
nest was in a dead limb of a large laurel along a creek; he had taken a
set of six eggs from the same tree the previous year.
_Eggs._--Nuttall’s woodpecker lays three to six eggs, most commonly
four and often five. These are ovate, or rarely short-ovate or
elliptical-ovate. The color is dull creamy white or pure white, and
sometimes rather glossy. The measurements of 47 eggs average 21.75 by
16.27 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =25.0= by
16.0, 23.3 by =17.0=, =19.30= by 15.75, and 19.7 by =14.6= millimeters.
_Young._--The period of incubation is said to be about 14 days, and to
be shared by both sexes. Mr. Dawson (1923) says:
The male Nuttall not only takes a lively interest in all
matters connected with the nesting, but it is believed
that he monopolizes the task of excavation. Certainly he
takes his turn at incubating, and he is invariably, in
my experience, the more valiant of the two in defense of
young. The female, however, is probably the closer sitter,
as there are several instances in which she has submitted
to the hand rather than forsake her trust. * * * When
the chicks are astir the father is fairly beside himself
with joy and apprehension. In fact, if you ever require
a symbol of doting solicitude, picture a male Nuttall
woodpecker thrusting his head into a dark hole to make
sure that nothing has spilled out of it since his last
inspection--which occurred exactly three seconds ago.
_Plumages._--The young are hatched naked, as with other woodpeckers,
but the juvenal plumage is acquired before the young leave the nest.
The young male, in juvenal plumage, has the forehead, occiput, and nape
uniform dull black, leaving only the crown scarlet, spotted or speckled
with white dots; the black bars on the back are dull black and the
white bars are grayish white, instead of clear black and pure white,
as in the adult; these bars are also less clearly defined than in the
adult; the under parts are yellowish white, spotted on the sides and
flanks less distinctly than in the adult, and with pale dusky, instead
of clear black; the wings and tail are as in the adult.
The young female is similar to the young male, except that the red of
the crown is more restricted and the forehead is streaked with white.
This plumage is, apparently, worn all through the first summer; I have
seen young birds in this plumage as late as August 30. Probably early
in fall a postjuvenal molt produces a plumage that is practically
adult. I have been unable to learn anything about the molts of adults.
Ridgway (1914) says that spring males have the “white streaks on
forehead and crown much reduced in size, sometimes obsolete, and
red nuchal area more restricted, through wearing off of red tips of
feathers.” The white streaks on the crown of the adult female also wear
away almost entirely during winter, leaving the crown clear black.
_Food._--The food of Nuttall’s woodpecker is very similar to that of
the downy and other small woodpeckers. Prof. F. E. L. Beal (1911)
summarizes it by saying: “In its animal food the Nuttall woodpecker
is beyond criticism. Practically all of the insects eaten are either
pests or of no positive benefit. While some fruit is eaten, it consists
largely, and perhaps entirely, of wild varieties. Probably the worst
that can be said of the bird is that it helps in the distribution of
poison-oak seeds.”
Among the insect food, the most prominent items seem to be the larvae
of the very harmful wood-boring beetles Cerambycidae and Elateridae;
other beetles are eaten largely, as well as ants and other Hymenoptera,
scales, plant lice and other bugs, weevils, caterpillars, spiders,
flies, and millipeds. Prof. Beal (1911) says: “Two stomachs contained
each between 30 and 40 box-elder bugs (_Leptocoris trivittatus_).
These insects have a way of becoming very abundant at times and making
a nuisance of themselves by invading buildings in search of winter
quarters.”
The vegetable food consists mainly of wild fruits, such as
blackberries, elderberries, and the seeds of poison-oaks; a few acorns
and some grain are occasionally eaten. Grinnell, Dixon, and Linsdale
(1930) write: “Trees that this woodpecker foraged over were sycamore,
cotton, valley oak, blue oak (most frequently), digger pine, yellow
pine (rarely), and orchard trees. On June 3, 1926, one was seen feeding
on cherries in an orchard near Manton.”
_Behavior._--Florence M. Bailey (1902) says of this little woodpecker:
It has a nuthatch-like way of flying up to light on the
underside of a limb, and when hanging upside down turns
itself around with as much ease as a fly on a ceiling. * * *
He is a sturdy little fellow, and in flight will sometimes
rise high in air and fly long and steadily, dipping only
slightly over the brush. He has the full strength of his
convictions and will drive a big flicker from a sycamore
and then stretch up on a branch and call out triumphantly.
Two Nuttalls trying to decide whether to fight are an
amusing sight. They shake their feathers and scold and
dance about as if they were aching to fly at each other,
but couldn’t quite make up their minds to so grave a matter.
_Voice._--The same writer says of the voice of Nuttall’s woodpecker:
“At times the small Nuttall waxes excited, and shakes his wings as
he gives his thin, rattling call. All his notes are thin, and his
_quee-quee-quee-quee’p_ has a sharp quality. His _chit’ tah_ is a
diminutive of the _ja’ cob_ of the California woodpecker.”
Ralph Hoffmann (1927) says: “One cannot remain long near a grove of
live oaks in the foothills of California without hearing from some
tree a hoarse ringing call _prrip_, often lengthened to a rattling
_prrrrrrt_. It has the exclamatory quality of the Hairy Woodpecker’s,
but is less clear and metallic, with more burr. * * * Like the other
woodpeckers the Nuttall, particularly in spring, drums on resonant
timber or telephone poles; it also gives at that season a rapid,
squealing _quee quee quee quee_.”
Mr. Dawson (1923) says that this woodpecker “always has a grouch on,
and you are sure to be challenged as you pass, by repetition of his
double notes of distrust, _ticket, ticket--ticket it_.”
_Field marks._--Nuttall’s woodpecker closely resembles the cactus
woodpecker, and where the ranges of the two species come together, in
southeastern California, there is a chance for confusion; but their
ranges barely touch each other, and fortunately the habitats of the
two species are quite different and mainly well separated. Nuttall’s
is somewhat lighter colored on the under parts, and the black bands
on the back are slightly wider than in the cactus woodpecker; but
the best distinguishing mark, if the observer is near enough to see
it, is the black forehead and front of the crown, which in the male
cactus woodpecker is spotted with white and red. It is only slightly
larger than the downy woodpeckers but can be readily distinguished
from that species by the conspicuous, transverse barring of black and
white on the back, instead of the broad, white, longitudinal band of
the downies; there are also more white spots in the wings than in the
western races of the downy.
DISTRIBUTION
_Range._--Southwestern Oregon, California, and northern Baja
California; nonmigratory.
The range of Nuttall’s woodpecker extends =north= to southwestern
Oregon (probably Ashland); and northern California (Weed and Lassen
Peak). =East= to California (Lassen Peak, Oroville, probably Florence
Lake, Owens Lake, and Redlands); and Baja California (San Rafael and
San Domingo). =South= to northern Baja California (San Domingo and
Ensenada). =West= to northwestern Baja California (Ensenada); western
California (San Diego, San Onofre, Santa Barbara, Morro, Monterey, and
East Park); and southwestern Oregon (probably Ashland).
_Egg dates._--California: 82 records, March 25 to June 14; 41
records, April 21 to May 6, indicating the height of the season.
DRYOBATES ARIZONAE ARIZONAE (Hargitt)
ARIZONA WOODPECKER
HABITS
Strickland’s woodpecker (_Dryobates stricklandi_), a Mexican species,
was formerly recorded from southern Arizona by some of the early
writers; but Edward Hargitt (1886) discovered that the Arizona bird was
specifically distinct, described it, and named it as a new species,
_Picus arizonae_. He gave it the following diagnosis: “_P._ similis _P.
stricklandi_, sed dorso uniformi nec albofasciato distinguendus.” The
two species are quite similar in general appearance, but _stricklandi_
has the median portion of the back and the whole rump broadly barred or
transversely spotted with white, whereas in _arizonae_ these parts are
uniformly plain brown, and the markings on the under parts are in the
form of large rounded or subcordate spots, instead of streaks.
The range of the Arizona woodpecker includes southeastern Arizona,
southwestern New Mexico, Sonora, Chihuahua, and northwestern Durango;
it is another one of those Mexican species that barely crosses our
southwestern border.
Henry W. Henshaw (1875) was the first to report this woodpecker, under
the name of Strickland’s woodpecker, as entitled to a place in our
fauna; he writes: “This rare woodpecker is a common species on the
foothills of the Chiricahua Mountains, where it was one of the first
birds that met my eye when the section where it abounds was first
entered. Whether it extends upward, and finds its home during a portion
of the year among the pines that here begin at an altitude of about
1,000 [10,000?] feet, I do not know. So far as I could ascertain, at
this season at least [August], it is confined to the region of the
oaks, ranging from about 4,000 to 7,000 feet, thus inhabiting a region
about midway between the low valleys and the mountain districts proper.”
Harry S. Swarth (1904) writes: “Although the Arizona Woodpecker is
resident the year through in the Huachucas, it is singular how the
birds seem to disappear in the breeding season, that is from the middle
of April to the middle of June, when the young birds begin to leave the
nest. During this time their loud shrill call may be occasionally heard
from some wooded hillside, but the birds themselves are seldom seen. I
have taken specimens from the base of the mountains, about 4,500 feet
altitude, up to 8,000 feet, but they are not often seen above 7,000
feet.”
_Nesting._--We found the Arizona woodpecker well distributed in Ramsay
Canyon in the Huachuca Mountains from the base of the mountains up to
7,500 feet, but nowhere common. On April 15, 1922, while exploring the
lower part of the canyon, which is quite heavily wooded with giant
sycamores, various oaks, ash, maples, black walnut, and locusts, we
saw an Arizona woodpecker excavating a nest hole in a solid dead stub,
about 50 feet up near the top of one of the big sycamores. The hole
was on the under side of the stub and deep enough to take in all the
bird but the tail. A red-shafted flicker was “yuckering” in the top
of another big tree, and I think it had designs on this nest, for it
subsequently drove away the Arizona woodpecker; and later on the nest
was found to have been deserted. We found only one occupied nest; this
was at an altitude of about 7,500 feet in a branch of Ramsay Canyon; it
was about 20 feet from the ground in a dead branch of a small walnut
tree, which was growing up through an oak on the steep mountain side;
the entrance to the cavity, which was about 12 inches deep, was well
hidden; it contained three eggs well advanced in incubation on May 16,
1922. The birds were heard in the vicinity, and one was seen to relieve
the other on the nest. Frank C. Willard’s notes record the finding of
two nests of this woodpecker in the same region on May 24, 1899; these
were both in dead branches of oak trees; one was 15 and one 18 feet
from the ground, and the nesting cavities were both 12 inches deep;
“one bird was seen to leave the nest and the other one entered it;
after it got in, it stuck its head out and uttered one sharp note, like
a grosbeak’s, which was answered by its mate.”
Major Bendire (1895) mentions a nest, found by Dr. A. K. Fisher in
Garden Canyon in the Huachuca Mountains, on May 14, that was “in a
large maple which overhung a stream. The cavity was situated in a dry
branch, about 20 feet from the ground, and was about a foot in depth.
It contained four young, which were still naked.” There are two sets of
four eggs each in the Thayer collection; one was taken by O. W. Howard
in the Huachuca Mountains on April 24, 1902, from a nest in a mescal
stalk, 8 feet from the ground; the other was collected by Virgil W.
Owen in the Chiricahua Mountains, on April 22, 1906; the entrance to
the cavity was 9 feet up on the under side of a slightly leaning, dead
and decaying stub of an oak limb in a dead tree.
_Eggs._--The Arizona woodpecker apparently lays either three or four
eggs; we have no record of more or fewer. The few that I have seen
are practically ovate; they are pure white and some are quite glossy,
others less so. The measurements of 27 eggs average 22.82 by 17.33
millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =24.0= by
=18.0=, =19.9= by 16.7, and 22.5 by =16.5= millimeters.
_Young._--The period of incubation does not seem to have been
definitely determined, but it is probably about 14 days, as with other
_Dryobates_. Both sexes assist in this task, and probably in the care
of the young.
H. S. Swarth (1904) writes:
About the third week in April they commence laying their
eggs, and after the middle of June the young birds begin
to leave the nest, and soon become quite abundant. I have
never had any difficulty in approaching these birds as
they are usually quite tame and unsuspicious; far more so
than the generality of woodpeckers, and the young birds
are noticeably so. I have several times stood within ten
feet of a young bird, easily distinguishable by his red
cap, as he was industriously pounding on a limb without
seeming in the least disturbed by my presence, or showing
any inclination to leave. On one occasion the confiding,
and in this case inquiring nature of the bird occasioned
rather a laughable scene. An acquaintance in the mountains,
passing the camp one day stopped to lead his horse down
to the well which supplied us with water. A young Arizona
Woodpecker was sitting in an oak tree close by, and soon
after the horse began drinking he flew down, and lighting
on the animal’s hind leg as on the side of a tree, hit it
a vigorous rap or two. The horse and its owner appeared
equally surprised, and both moving a little the bird
retreated to his tree. It wasn’t a minute before he was
back again, this time on a front leg, where he went to
work with such energy as to start the horse plunging and
kicking in an effort to get rid of its curious assailant.
The woodpecker left but did not seem to be particularly
frightened, as he sat on the wooden curb of the well until
he was left alone again.
_Plumages._--The young are hatched naked but acquire the juvenal
plumage before leaving the nest. In three young males in my collection,
taken on June 20, August 4, and August 30, the upper parts are much
like those of the adult male, but the crown is more or less invaded
with scarlet or vermilion-tipped feathers, sometimes with only a few
scattered feathers and sometimes covering the whole crown and nape;
they are more heavily spotted on the breast and more heavily barred on
the belly than are the fall adults, and these markings are dark sepia,
instead of black, and less well defined than in adults; the bills are
smaller and weaker. Mr. Swarth (1904) says: “In the young female,
besides occupying a less extensive surface, the red is less intense
than in the male, and not as solid, that is there is always more or
less brown showing through. The red cap of the juvenile bird seems
to be worn but a short time, as a young female taken September 4 has
hardly a trace of it remaining.”
Apparently the juvenal plumage is molted, including the wings and tail,
late in August or September, when the first winter plumage, which is
practically indistinguishable from that of the adult, is acquired. Mr.
Swarth (1904) says of the molt of the adult:
The Arizona woodpecker commences to moult about the middle
of July, and by the first week in September the new plumage
is almost completely acquired. The plumage of the breast,
abdomen, and lower parts generally, seems to be the first
to be renewed, while the remiges, rectrices and feathers of
the interscapular region are the last to get their growth.
An old female shot on September 3 had practically completed
its moult, with the exception of the tail feathers, none of
which were over half an inch long; while several specimens
of both sexes, taken during the last two weeks in August,
are in nearly perfect autumnal plumage, except for some
small patches of old feathers in the interscapular region.
Fall specimens are considerably darker on the back than
birds taken during the spring and summer, but the change is
undoubtedly due to fading of the plumage, as birds taken in
the late winter and early spring, show not the slightest
traces of moult, and a series of birds taken from February
to July, show plainly the gradual change of coloration.
Singularly enough the pileum and back of the neck does not
seem to fade as the dorsum does, and consequently, while
birds in fresh fall plumage are of practically uniform
coloration on the upper parts, specimens taken in the late
spring and summer have the head and neck abruptly darker
than the back and exposed portion of the wings. * * * Of
twenty-four specimens from this region [Arizona] four show
more or less traces of white bars across the rump; one of
these is a male in nuptial plumage, one a male in freshly
acquired autumnal plumage, one a female in nuptial plumage
(this specimen has some faint indications of white bars on
some of the scapulars as well), and one is a young male.
Another spring female has some white bars on the scapulars
but none on the rump. Presumably this is a tendency toward
the Mexican species _Dryobates stricklandi_.
_Food._--Very little seems to be recorded on the food of the Arizona
woodpecker, which probably does not differ greatly from that of other
members of the _Dryobates_ group. It apparently feeds mainly on insects
and their larvae, but to some extent on fruits and acorns. Mr. Henshaw
(1875) says of its feeding habits: “When in pursuit of food, they
almost always alighted near the base of the trees, gradually ascending,
and making their way along the smaller limbs, and even out among the
foliage, appearing to prefer to secure their food by a careful search
rather than by the hard labor of cutting into the wood in the way the
hairy woodpecker employs its strength.”
_Behavior._--The same observer says of their habits:
Here they appeared to be perfectly at home, climbing over
the trunks of the oaks with the same ease and rapidity of
movement that distinguish the motions of the downy or hairy
woodpecker; though their habits, in so far as they are at
all peculiar, are, perhaps, best comparable to those of
the red-cockaded woodpecker of the South (_P. borealis_),
especially their custom of moving about in small companies
of from five to fifteen, though they were occasionally
found singly or in pairs. * * *
I found them at all times rather shy, and gifted with very
little of that prying curiosity which is seen in some of
the better known species of this family; and if by chance
I surprised a band feeding among the low trees, a sharp
warning note, from some member more watchful than the rest,
communicated alarm to the whole assembly, when they took
flight immediately, showing great dexterity in dodging
behind trunks and limbs, and making good their retreat by
short flights from one tree to another till they were out
of sight.
In the Whetstone Mountains, Ariz., Austin Paul Smith (1908) observed a
female Arizona woodpecker--
working on an oak-trunk, not three feet above the base;
while the trees around harbored unnumbered Bridled
Tits (_Baeolophus wollweberi_), Lead-colored Bush-tits
(_Psaltriparus plumbeus_) and Rocky Mountain Nuthatches
(_Sitta carolinensis nelsoni_). Very often did I run across
a similar assemblage, but rarely were there more than one
or two Arizona Woodpeckers in it. There is no recollection
at hand, of noting above four adult woodpeckers of this
species in view at once; more likely to chance upon a
solitary individual than a pair at any time. The noisiest
occasion I can accredit to the species occurred one spring
day when two adult females were located, perched upon
a horizontal limb of a madrona, facing each other, and
emitting a continuous volume of characteristic woodpecker
notes, the effect being heightened by that peculiar
muscular movement which accompanies the vocal utterances of
some Pici. The continuity was possible by a relay system;
and so engrossed were the participants, that I approached
to directly under the limb and stood there at least two
minutes, without being detected.
F. H. Fowler (1903) writes: