Life histories of North American woodpeckersBent, Arthur Cleveland
Science
Life histories of North American woodpeckers
Bent, Arthur Cleveland
Birds -- North America; Woodpeckers -- North America
The range of this woodpecker extends =north= to southern California
(Hesperia and Needles); southern Nevada (Upper Cottonwood Springs);
southern Utah (Virgin River Valley); and probably southeastern
Colorado (Swink). =East= to probably southeastern Colorado (Swink and
Springfield); western Oklahoma (Kenton and Hollis); Texas (San Angelo,
Kerrville, Boerne, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, and Brownsville);
Tamaulipas (Presas and Ciudad Victoria); Yucatan (Chichen-Itza);
Quintana Roo (Cozumel Island); and British Honduras (Manatee Lagoon and
Ycacos Lagoon). =South= to British Honduras (Ycacos Lagoon); Jalisco
(Zapotlan); Nayarit (Tres Marias Islands); and Baja California (Cape
San Lucas). =West= to Baja California (Cape San Lucas, San Jose del
Cabo, El Sauz, San Fernando, and Cocopah); and southern California
(Paint Canyon, White Water, and Hesperia).
The range as above outlined applies to the entire species, which has,
however, been divided into 15 or more subspecies or geographic races.
Most of these, including the typical variety (_Dryobates scalaris
scalaris_), are found only in regions south of the Rio Grande. The four
races found in North America are distributed as follows: The Texas
woodpecker (_D. s. symplectus_) is found from southeastern Colorado
south and east through east-central Texas, to Coahuila, Tamaulipas,
and Nuevo Leon. The cactus woodpecker (_D. s. cactophilus_) ranges
from western Texas through New Mexico, Arizona, and southern Utah and
Nevada south to northern Durango. The western edge of the range of
this race cuts across southeastern California and northeastern Baja
California. The San Fernando woodpecker (_D. s. eremicus_) is found
in northern Baja California except for the northeastern part. The San
Lucas woodpecker (_D. s. lucasanus_) occurs in southern part of Baja
California north to about latitude 29° N.
_Egg dates._--California: 7 records, April 11 to May 9.
Baja California: 12 records, April 16 to June 2.
Texas: 45 records, April 14 to June 22; 23 records, April 20 to
May 7, indicating the height of the season.
DRYOBATES SCALARIS LUCASANUS (Xantus)
SAN LUCAS WOODPECKER
HABITS
The ladder-backed woodpecker of the southern half of the peninsula
of Baja California, Mexico, has long been recognized as a distinct
subspecies under the above name. It inhabits the Lower Austral deserts
from Cape San Lucas north to about latitude 29° N. William Brewster
(1902) says: “Mr. Frazar considers this woodpecker ‘rather common and
generally distributed in the cape region, except on the mountains,
where it was not met with.’ He found it most numerous about La Paz, but
did not see it anywhere to the northward of that place during his trip
along the Gulf coast.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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