Cavity-Nesting Birds of North American Forests: Agriculture Handbook 511Scott, Virgil E.
Science
Cavity-Nesting Birds of North American Forests: Agriculture Handbook 511
Scott, Virgil E.
Birds -- Nests; Birds -- North America; Cavity-nesting birds -- North America; Forest birds -- North America
Nest: Acorn woodpeckers are communal nesters, and the young are fed by
the entire group (Wetmore 1964). They usually excavate holes in
ponderosa pine, but live and dead oaks of various species, sycamore,
cottonwood, and willow are also used for nests. Their old holes are
important for secondary cavity nesters such as small owls, purple
martins, violet-green swallows, nuthatches, house wrens, and kestrels
(Bent 1939).
Food: As the name implies, acorn woodpeckers feed mostly on acorns which
are stored in holes drilled in communal trees. Sap from several species
of oaks also is consumed from midwinter to summer (MacRoberts and
MacRoberts 1972). About 25 percent of the diet is insects, including
grasshoppers, ants, beetles, and flies (Bent 1939). Almonds, walnuts,
and pecans are eaten when they are available.
Lewis’ woodpecker
_Melanerpes lewis_
L 9″
[Illustration]
Habitat: Open or parklike ponderosa pine forest is probably the major
breeding habitat of the Lewis’ woodpecker. These woodpeckers also nest
in burned over stands of Douglas-fir, mixed conifer, pinyon-juniper,
riparian, and oak woodlands (Bock 1970).
Nest: The Lewis’ woodpecker generally excavates its own nest cavity, but
will use natural cavities or holes excavated in previous years. Bock
(1970) summarized the following nest data: height range 5 to 170 feet;
47 nests in dead stubs and 17 in live trees; 29 nests in conifers, 31 in
cottonwood and sycamore, 6 in oaks, 2 in power poles, 1 in juniper, and
1 in catalpa. At Boca Reservoir, California, 10 of 11 nests were in dead
ponderosa pines, and the other was in a hollow section of a living pine.
Food: Insects, including flies, ladybird beetle larvae, tent
caterpillars, ants, and mayflies, were the primary food of Lewis’
woodpeckers during spring and summer (Bock 1970). Fruits and berries
were the most frequently used food in late summer and fall, while winter
food consisted mostly of acorns and almonds gathered and stored in
crevices of dead trees, power poles, and oak bark. Hadow (1973) reported
that, on snowy days when insects were inactive, Lewis’ woodpeckers in
southeastern Colorado spent 99 percent of their feeding time feeding
from caches of acorns and corn kernels.
Yellow-bellied sapsucker
_Sphyrapicus varius_
L 7¾″
[Illustration]
Habitat: The yellow-bellied sapsucker (sometimes called red-naped) is
most abundant along streams in mixed hardwood-conifer forests. It is
also found in ponderosa pine, aspen, mixed conifer, lodgepole pine, and
in mixed stands of fir-larch-pine.
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