At World Bird Sanctuary, we recently received a Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes
erythrocephalus) that is non releasable.
After keeping an eye on it (we don't know if it is a male or female)
throughout a particular day, I realized that I know almost nothing about
woodpeckers. So, I decided that it was
time for me to learn.
Red-headed Woodpecker (wikipedia.org)
As adults, Red-headed
Woodpeckers have bright red heads, black backs, white chests and black wings
with large white patches. This gives
them the nickname of the flying checkerboard.
So naturally we named ours "Checkers". Red-headed Woodpeckers have been around for a
very long time. In fact, in Florida,
Virginia and Illinois, Red-headed woodpecker fossils have been found. Some of them even dated to about 2 million
years old! They can be found all over
the eastern United States, ranging from
Montana down to New Mexico, and from Florida up to New Hampshire. However, the further north you go, the less
common they are.
They live in deciduous
woodlands and nest in old dying trees.
Red-headed woodpeckers are omnivores, meaning they eat both plants and
animals. Most of their diet contains
different nuts and fruits (Checkers seems to enjoy grapes and peanuts the
most). They will often find insects to
eat also. Ranging from flies to
grasshoppers to cicadas, they will eat practically any insect they can
find. And they are very effective at
catching them in midair, too. Rarely
they will even eat smaller birds and mice.
The Red-headed Woodpecker is one of only 4 woodpecker species in the
United States that will cache, or save and hide, their food. This is in case they need the backup food
supply. Commonly they will store live
grasshoppers in cracks in trees. They
will wedge the grasshoppers in so tightly that it cannot escape. These woodpeckers have even been known to store
food underneath shingles on peoples' roofs.
The Red-headed Woodpecker's conservation status is Near Threatened. This means that if current trends of decline
continue, they will likely become endangered.
According to the North American Breeding Bird Survey, their populations have
declined around 2.9% every year, starting around 1966. In the mid 1840's Red-headed Woodpeckers were
so common that some farmers and orchard owners actually paid bounties for
them. Beech forests and chestnut trees
are far less common today, which is a major cause in the decline of their
populations.
One way to help out the
Red-headed Woodpecker is to make sure that if you have any old dying trees on
your property, don't cut them down.
Those are prime foraging and nesting real estate for these beautiful
birds.
Submitted by Mike Cerrutti, Trainer.
No comments:
Post a Comment