Life histories of North American woodpeckersBent, Arthur Cleveland
Science
Life histories of North American woodpeckers
Bent, Arthur Cleveland
Birds -- North America; Woodpeckers -- North America
Vernon Sharpe, Jr. (1932), writing from Tennessee, says: “The winter
roosting place of this bird is rather interesting. A live hollow tree
is selected, and there two or more holes are dug, presumably with
the thought of using one for escape should any attack by some night
marauder take place. These roosting places are used year after year;
in fact, there is one site in the Overton Hills, south of Nashville,
that has been used for so many seasons it has become essential for the
woodpecker to cut away a portion of the tree that is trying to heal
over the cavity.”
DISTRIBUTION
_Range._--North America; chiefly timbered regions east of the Great
Plains and from southern Mackenzie to western Montana and California.
The range of the pileated woodpecker extends =north= to northern
British Columbia (Buckley Lake and Thutade Lake); southern Mackenzie
(Fort Liard and Fort Smith); northern Saskatchewan (Poplar Point);
northeastern Ontario (Moose Factory); and southeastern Quebec (Godbout
and Mont Louis Lake). =East= through the wooded areas along the
Atlantic coast to southeastern Florida (Everglades, Royal Palm Hammock,
and Key West). =South= along the Gulf coasts of Florida, Mississippi,
and Louisiana, to southeastern Texas (San Point). The species is not
known through the southern Rocky Mountain and Great Basin regions,
appearing next in central California (Yosemite Valley and Napa County).
From the latter point it occurs north along the Pacific coast through
Oregon and Washington, to northwestern British Columbia (Hazelton and
Buckley Lake).
The range above outlined is for the entire species, which has, however,
been separated into four subspecies. The southern pileated woodpecker
(_C. p. pileatus_) is found in the Eastern United States from central
Texas and northern Florida north to Oklahoma, southern Illinois,
southern Indiana, southern Pennsylvania, and Maryland; the northern
pileated woodpecker (_C. p. abieticola_), occupies the balance of the
range in Eastern North America, except for the peninsula of Florida
to which the Florida pileated woodpecker (_C. p. floridanus_) is
restricted. The western pileated woodpecker (_C. p. picinus_) is found
chiefly in the humid areas of the Northwest coast district but also
south to central California and east to western Montana and Idaho.
_Casual records._--Two specimens have been taken in North Dakota,
one at Grafton on May 30, 1905, and the other at Fargo on October
16, 1915. It may occur rarely in Wyoming, although no specimen is at
present known. The Colorado and New Mexico records are not considered
satisfactory.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account