or _whether_.”
_Field marks._--Such a conspicuously and uniquely colored woodpecker
as the male Williamson’s sapsucker should be easily recognized; its
general appearance is largely black, with a large white patch in the
fore part of the wing, and another on the rump and upper tail coverts;
the yellow on the under parts is not so easily seen; neither is the red
throat. The female appears mainly pale brown, with a white rump, brown
head, and barred back and wings.
DISTRIBUTION
_Range._--Mountainous regions of the Western United States and
southwestern Canada south to west-central Mexico.
_Breeding range._--Williamson’s sapsucker breeds =north= to central
Washington (Bumping Lake and probably Dayton); and southwestern
Montana (Missoula, Pipestone Creek, Bridger Creek, and Red Lodge).
=East= to Montana (Red Lodge); Wyoming (Yellowstone National Park and
Laramie Peak); Colorado (Estes Park, Idaho Springs, Breckenridge, El
Paso County, and Fort Garland); and New Mexico (Carson Forest, Santa
Fe Canyon, Las Vegas, and Hermosa). =South= to southern New Mexico
(Hermosa); Arizona (Tucson, Mogollon Mountains, and Fort Whipple); and
southern California (San Jacinto). =West= to eastern California (San
Jacinto, San Bernardino Mountains, Pyramid Peak, Tuolumne County, Echo
Lake, Lake Tahoe, Lassen Peak, and Eagle Peak); western Oregon (Rogue
River Valley and Foley Springs); and west-central Washington (Bumping
Lake).
_Winter range._--In winter the species is regularly found =north= to
central California (Yosemite Valley); central Arizona (Pine Springs,
Oak Creek, and Mogollon Mountains); southwestern New Mexico (Black
Range); and central Texas (San Angelo). =East= to Texas (San Angelo and
probably Kerrville); eastern Chihuahua (Apache); and Jalisco (Bolanos
and Guadalajara). =South= to southern Jalisco (Guadalajara). =West=
to Jalisco (Guadalajara); northwestern Durango; western Chihuahua
(Refugio, Casa Colorado, Bavispee River, and Colonia Garcia); northern
Baja California (San Pedro Martir, Ville de la Trinidad, and Hanson
Lagoon); and California (Pasadena and Yosemite Valley).
As outlined, the range applies to the entire species, which has been
separated into two subspecies. True Williamson’s sapsucker (_S. t.
thyroideus_) is found in the Pacific coast region from British Columbia
south to Baja California, while Natalie’s sapsucker (_S. t. nataliae_)
inhabits the Rocky Mountain region from Montana south to Jalisco.
_Spring migration._--Although the species appears to be resident
throughout considerable portions of its range, and but little is known
of its migratory movements, the following early dates of arrival have
been noted: Colorado--Boulder County, April 5; Colorado Springs, April
5; Evergreen, April 8; Denver, April 15. Wyoming--Yellowstone Park,
April 29. Montana--Charcoal Gulch, April 23. Nevada--Carson City, March
10. Washington--Pullman, April 26. A late date of departure from the
southern part of the winter range is Chihuahua, Palomas Lakes, April 7.
_Fall migration._--Available late dates of fall departure are:
Washington--Copper River, September 3. Oregon--Rustler Peak,
November 6. Nevada--Lee Canyon, October 7; Carson City, November 27.
Montana--Fort Custer, September 9. Wyoming--Yellowstone Park, September
22; Wheatland, October 4. Colorado--Del Norte, September 5; Rio Blanco,
September 9; Boulder County, November 6. It has been noted to reach
Hanson Lagoon, Baja California, on October 11.
_Casual records._--There are a few records in extreme southern British
Columbia, where it may breed occasionally. A pair were collected on
April 22, 1913, on Schoonover Mountain, near Okanagan Falls; one was
taken at Similkameen in June 1882, while Swarth (1917) records three
from Midway.
_Egg dates._--California: 14 records, May 27 to June 26.
Colorado: 29 records, May 24 to June 24; 15 records, June 1 to 8,
indicating the height of the season.
SPHYRAPICUS THYROIDEUS NATALIAE (Malherbe)
NATALIE’S SAPSUCKER
PLATE 29
HABITS
Harry S. Swarth (1917) is responsible for the recognition of this race,
which seems to differ from the Williamson’s sapsucker of the Pacific
coast in the same way that the northern white-headed woodpecker differs
from the southern race of that species; he says:
The differences are as worthy of recognition in one case
as in the other. It is my suggestion here that the Rocky
Mountain race of the Williamson Sapsucker be separately
recognized on the basis of its lesser bill measurements as
compared with those of _Sphyrapicus thyroideus thyroideus_
of the Pacific Coast.
As regards a name for this form, there is already one that
seems to be clearly available for use. A specimen from
Mexico was designated by Malherbe (Journ. für Orn., 1854,
p. 171) as _Picus nataliae_, and an example from any part
of Mexico (save possibly from the mountains of northern
Lower California) would assuredly be of the Rocky Mountain
subspecies. Also in the measurements given by Malherbe,
length of bill (“du bec, du front 20 millimeters”) places
his bird unequivocally with this race.
It is reasonably certain that in the Rocky Mountain
region the species does not breed south of the Mogollon
Divide, though it does occur as a common winter visitant
in southern Arizona and over a large part of the Mexican
plateau. These winter visitants, as shown by numerous
specimens at hand, are migrants from the Rocky Mountain
region to the northward, and not from the Pacific Coast
region. So the name _nataliae_, as given by Malherbe to a
Mexican specimen, can safely be used for the Rocky Mountain
subspecies, which may therefore stand as _Sphyrapicus
thyroideus nataliae_ (Malherbe).
Mrs. Florence M. Bailey (1928), referring to the striking difference in
plumage between the male and the female in this species, remarks:
The cause of this strongly contrasted sexual coloration
unique among the woodpeckers of the United States is one
of the unsolved problems of ornithology that stimulates
speculation and so adds zest to the study. Is it, as Mr.
Swarth suggests, that the female is still in a primitive
stage of development? Correlating the brown coloration of
the pasture-frequenting flickers with the ant-eating habits
so marked in the Rocky Mountain sapsucker, it would seem
that the color of the female might have been ancestrally
adapted to a more open habitat than that in which the pair
are found today; or has the ant-eating habit been diverted
from ants that live on the ground in the open to those that
live on tree trunks? The feeding habits of the anomalous
pair should be carefully studied in the field.
Dr. Edgar A. Mearns (1890b) says that in Arizona it “breeds very
commonly at the highest altitudes, frequenting the spruce and fir
woods. It seldom descends far into the pine belt during the breeding
season, although it is found in the pines in winter, occasionally
descending even to the cedars in severe weather; and after the nesting
season it frequently roves down to the pine woods with its young. When
shot, it usually fastened its claws into the balsam bark and remained
hanging there after life was extinct.”
Milton P. Skinner says in his Yellowstone Park notes: “In this Park,
the Williamson sapsucker lives below 7,000 feet and prefers mixed
forests of aspen and fir, but it is not particular whether in dense
forest or in the borderland between forest and open.”
_Spring._--Mr. Swarth (1904) witnessed a well-marked spring migration
in the Huachuca Mountains, Ariz., of which he says:
On April 6, 1902, I saw about a dozen Williamson Sapsuckers
near the summit of the mountains at an altitude of about
9,000 feet. Though not at all in a compact flock they
seemed to keep rather close together, and when one flew
any distance away, the others soon followed. The bulk of
them were females, and but one or two males were seen, one
of which was, with great difficulty secured, for they were
very wild. On April 9 several more were seen and a female
secured at this same place; and a male was taken a mile
or two from this place, at an altitude of nearly 10,000
feet. These were the last I saw in the spring, though they
do occur later as I have a female that was taken in the
Huachucas by H. Kimball on April 20, 1895.
_Nesting._--The nesting habits of this woodpecker do not seem to differ
materially from those of the species elsewhere. Bendire (1895) quotes
W. G. Smith, as follows: “Williamson’s Sapsucker is a common summer
resident in Estes Park, Colorado, where it nests mostly in dead pines,
often within a few feet of the ground, and again as high as 70 feet
up. Full sets of fresh eggs are usually found here during the first
week in June. The male appears to me to do most of the incubating, and
hereabouts it is most often found at altitudes between 7,000 and 8,000
feet, but I have also taken it at much higher ones, where it nests
somewhat later.”
Mr. Skinner says in his notes: “On June 14, 1914, I discovered the nest
of a pair of Williamson sapsuckers in the gulch beside the trail to
Snow Pass at the beginning of the last ascent. The nest was in an aspen
trunk about 6 inches in diameter. The opening to the nest was 1½ inches
in diameter and located 5 feet above ground. On June 30, 1915, the nest
was in the same tree, but 2 feet above the 1914 nest and in a fresh
opening.”
_Eggs._--The eggs of Natalie’s sapsucker do not differ materially from
those of the other race of the species. The measurements of 51 eggs
average 23.60 by 17.41 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes
measure =26.2= by 17.9, 24.2 by =19.4=, =21.5= by 17.0, and 22.0 by
=16.0= millimeters.
_Young._--Mr. Skinner says in his notes that the young “seem to arrive
irregularly between June 10 and July 1. I have seen young Williamson’s
sapsuckers hunting by themselves before August 10. In the nest recorded
above there were five young on June 14, 1914, and both parents were
kept constantly busy bringing food, and frequently came so fast that
one parent had to wait for the other to leave the nest. In feeding the
young the adults disappeared completely into the nest cavity and came
out head first. In 1915 there were five more young on June 30 and they
were still there on July 10. When I visited them on June 30, the male
was in the nest, and it required about five raps on the tree trunk to
dislodge him, although he came to the opening and looked out at each
rap.”
_Food._--The feeding habits of Natalie’s sapsucker are apparently
similar to those of the species elsewhere, but Mr. Skinner tells me
he has “seen it drumming on firs for insects, picking insects from a
crotch of a lodgepole pine and catching spruce-budworm moths from fir
foliage.”
_Behavior._--The feeding and other habits of Natalie’s sapsucker seems
to be similar to those of the other subspecies, but Bendire (1895)
quotes the following notes from Denis Gale, about its behavior around
the nest, which are worth repeating here:
A marked peculiarity I have noted with _Sphyrapicus
thyroideus_ is that the male takes a lookout station upon
some suitable tree, where, at the approach of any possible
danger, he gives the alarm by striking a short dry limb
with his bill, by which a peculiar vibrating sound is given
out, which the female, not very distant, fully understands,
and is at once on the alert. If either excavating,
guarding, or covering her eggs, she will immediately look
out of her burrow, and, should the intruder’s path lie in
the direction of her nest, she will silently slip away
and alight in a tree some distance off, but in view of
both her nest and the intruder. The first or second blow
of a hatchet upon the tree trunk in which the nest is
excavated will mark her movement again by a short flight,
so managed as not to increase the distance--in fact oftener
coming nearer. When satisfied that her treasures have been
discovered, she utters a peculiar, low, grating sound,
not unlike the purring of a cat. The male then comes to
the fore and braving the danger, is very courageous, and,
should the eggs be far advanced in incubation, he will even
enter the nest when you are almost within reach of it. When
the latter are rifled, he is always the first to go in and
discover the fact, often passing in and out several times
in a surprised sort of manner.
CEOPHLOEUS PILEATUS PILEATUS (Linnaeus)
SOUTHERN PILEATED WOODPECKER
HABITS
The above name is now restricted to the pileated woodpeckers of the
Lower Austral forests of the Southern United States, except southern
Florida, east of the Rocky Mountains. When Outram Bangs (1898) applied
the name _abieticola_, to the northern race, he said: “Linnaeus based
his _Picus pileatus_ on Catesby and Kalm. Taking Catesby as the best
authority, southern South Carolina must be considered the type locality
of the species, and birds from this region are as extreme of the
southern race as those from Florida.”
The southern pileated woodpecker is decidedly smaller than the northern
bird and somewhat darker in coloration. Ridgway (1914) says of this
race, in a footnote: “Some of the more northern examples are quite
as slaty as the extreme northern form (_P. p. abieticola_) but they
are distinctly smaller. In other words, I have restricted the name
_pileatus_ to an intermediate form, characterized by the small size of
_P. p. floridanus_ combined with an appreciably lighter (more slaty or
sooty) coloration, often approaching closely the lightness of hue of
_P. p. abieticola_.”
Arthur T. Wayne (1910) says that in South Carolina “this fine species
is abundant wherever the forest is of a primeval nature, but where
the heavy growth has been cut away it is seldom met with.” Wright
and Harper (1913), writing of its haunts in southern Georgia, say:
“With the exception of the red-bellied woodpecker, this is the most
abundant member of its family in the Okefinokee. In fact, we saw as
many as four Pileated Woodpeckers in a single tree. In every part of
the swamp--especially the cypress bays, but also the hammocks and the
piny woods on the islands, and even the ‘heads’ on the prairies--these
magnificent birds are at home.”
George Finlay Simmons (1925) says that in the Austin region of Texas
this woodpecker lives in the “wilder country only; cypress swamps, and
the most heavily timbered bottomlands, generally in very thinly settled
sections; post oak woods on gravelly river terraces; edges of woodland
meadows; along margins of both large and small streams; Austroriparian
forests; in or near edges of timber, venturing out onto fields to feed.”
Charles R. Stockard (1904) says of his experience with this species in
Mississippi:
During three seasons seventeen nests were watched in Adams
County. In the vicinity where observations were made every
small woods had its pair of these large woodpeckers. The
individuals of this species seemed to occupy very small
feeding areas. Of the seven nests that were found in 1902
five pairs of the birds were located in their respective
woods during the previous December and January. Whenever
a pair was once seen feeding in a wood during the winter
the same pair could always be found very close to that
place. At the beginning of the nesting season they would
invariably make their burrow in some dead but sound tree
near the edge of the brake. From continued observation it
appeared certain that whenever a pair were found in a small
wood during the winter they were sure to nest there the
following spring. * * *
In four instances, all of which had lost their eggs the
year before, the birds built their new burrows in their
several woods within a distance of about one quarter of a
mile from the previous nest site. These four are the only
cases which were watched with special care.
_Nesting._--The only nests of this race that I have seen were shown to
me by A. T. Wayne, on May 19, 1915, near Mount Pleasant, S. C. They
were in tall, dead pine trees (_Pinus taeda_) in a heavily forested
region of open, mixed woods. One was 43 feet from the ground; he had
taken three fresh eggs from this nest on April 24, 1915. The other
I estimated as over 60 feet up, but he said it was 80 feet from the
ground; it probably held young at that time, as both birds were much
in evidence and very noisy. Mr. Wayne told me that these two pairs of
birds had nested in this tract of timber for many years. He writes
(1910) regarding their nesting habits:
If the season is a forward one the birds mate early in
February and towards the latter part of the month begin
to excavate their hole, which requires exactly a month
for completion. During the month of March, 1904, I made
observations on a pair which excavated their hole in a
dead pine. On March 21, the opening was commenced by the
female, who drilled a small hole, and by degrees enlarged
it to the size of a silver dollar. The male assisted in the
excavation, but the female did by far the larger part of
the work. The size of the aperture was not increased until
necessary to admit the shoulders of the bird. I visited
these birds every day in order to note the progress of
their work, and, being so accustomed to seeing me, they
were utterly fearless and I could, at any time, approach
within twenty feet without hindering the work, although the
hole was only about thirty feet from the ground. This hole
was completed on April 21, and the first egg was laid the
following morning. * * * In this case the excavation was
made under a dead limb, and was about eighteen inches deep,
being hollowed out more on one side than the other. This
woodpecker is so attached to the tree in which it has first
made its nest that it continues to cling to it as long as
it can find a suitable spot at which to excavate a new
hole. It never uses the same hole a second time. I know of
a pair of these birds which resorted to the same tree for
four consecutive years, and each year they excavated a new
hole. * * *
If this bird is deprived of its first set of eggs, it at
once excavates a new hole, and the length of time consumed
in its construction is about twenty-five days. A curious
habit is that even when it is incubating or brooding
its young, this bird frequently taps in its hole as if
excavating.
Vernon Sharpe, Jr. (1932), says that in Tennessee “for a nesting site
a dead tree is invariably selected and preferably one of large size,
from which the branches have fallen. The cavity is situated from 20 to
85 feet above the ground, with a depth ranging from 20 to 26 inches.
Generally the four-inch opening is broader at the base and angular at
the top, forming somewhat of a triangular shape. While incubating, this
species will continue to enlarge the nest cavity, as was proved by
personal experience.”
M. G. Vaiden writes to me that the pileated woodpecker is fairly
common in certain localities near Rosedale, Miss. He has located seven
nests in cypress, sycamore, hackberry, or sweetgum trees, at estimated
heights ranging from 60 to 75 feet. His nesting dates range from April
14 to April 29.
Of the nest location, in Texas, Mr. Simmons (1925) says: “Cavity in
upper part, usually 30 to 60 feet from ground, in solid trunk of live,
sound tree, less commonly in dead or partly dead limbs or trunks,
generally tall cottonwood, cypress, elm, or oak, on the edge of woods
or in marginal timber skirting stream, and usually easily located by
the half-bushel of big fresh chips scattered about on the ground below;
tree 10 or more inches in diameter at cavity.”
Mr. Stockard (1904) says, of the 17 pairs that he watched in
Mississippi, that the birds do not lay a second set after the nest has
been robbed, but they remain in the same woods during the remainder of
the season. He says of the nests:
The burrow is very large and requires in most cases about
one month for construction, being commenced in this
locality about the latter part of February. But it was very
difficult to note the exact length of time consumed in
burrowing, as the birds try so many parts of the same tree
before striking one to suit their taste. The nest tree and
other dead trees close at hand were often scarred from top
to bottom. In two cases they began a nest, then seemed to
start one in another place, and then returned to the former
and completed it. * * *
The first nest, a burrow twenty-five feet from the ground
in an old sycamore stump, contained one egg on March 22;
March 26 it contained three, and on April 1, when the set
was removed, it consisted of four slightly incubated eggs.
* * *
Only one pair was observed that had their nest in a dead
tree which stood in an open field at least sixty or seventy
yards from the wood. The female in this case flew about
the nest tree and lit once on the upper part and again
just over the nest hole while a person was in the act of
climbing the tree. This was by far the most daring bird
seen and, as mentioned above, because of the isolation of
the tree, her burrow was unusually exposed for this species.
_Eggs._--The pileated woodpecker lays ordinarily from three to five
eggs; Audubon (1842) claims to have found six. The eggs vary from
ovate, the commonest shape, to elliptical-ovate; some are even quite
pointed. They are a brilliant china-white and usually decidedly glossy.
The measurements of 52 eggs average 32.90 by 24.72 millimeters; the
eggs showing the four extremes measure =35.70= by =27.00=, =30.22= by
22.35, and 29.30 by =22.00= millimeters.
_Young._--Bendire (1895) says that “an egg is deposited daily, and
incubation begins occasionally before the set is completed, and lasts
about eighteen days, both sexes assisting in this duty, as well as
in caring for the young. Like all Woodpeckers, the Pileated are very
devoted parents, and the young follow them for some weeks after leaving
the nest, until fully capable of caring for themselves. Only one brood
is raised in a season.”
_Plumages._--I have seen no small nestlings of this species, but they
are probably hatched naked and blind, like all other woodpeckers; the
juvenal plumage is evidently acquired before the young bird leaves the
nest.
The young male, in juvenal plumage, is much like the adult male in
general appearance, but the body plumage is softer, less firm, and
rather lighter and more sooty in color; the tips of the primaries have
dull-white narrow margins, which soon wear away; the red of the head
is duller, paler, and more restricted; on the fore half of the crown
and the malar region, the feathers are basally grayish brown, the red
showing only on the tips of most of the feathers, producing a mixed
color effect. The young female is similar to the young male but with
even less red in the head; the forehead and most of the crown are
grayish brown, which invades the red posterior portion of the crown;
and there is no red in the malar region. Audubon (1842) says that the
bill of the young bird is considerably longer than that of the adult.
The juvenal plumage is apparently worn for only a short time, during
the summer and early fall; I have not been able to detect it beyond
August; this is followed by a prolonged molt into a first winter
plumage, which is scarcely distinguishable from that of the adult.
Adults have a complete molt between June and September.
_Food._--The food of the southern pileated woodpecker is not
essentially different from that of the other races of the species, with
due allowance for the difference in environment. Prof. F. E. L. Beal
(1895) says: “Six stomachs, collected by Dr. B. H. Warren on the St.
Johns River in Florida, contained numerous palmetto ants (_Camponotus
escuriens_), and remains of other ants, several larvae of a Prionid
beetle (_Orthosoma brunnea_), numerous builder ants (_Crematogaster
lineolata_), one larva of _Xylotrechus_, and one pupa of the white ant
(_Termes_).”