Life histories of North American woodpeckersBent, Arthur Cleveland
Science
Life histories of North American woodpeckers
Bent, Arthur Cleveland
Birds -- North America; Woodpeckers -- North America
Harry S. Swarth (1904), writing of the Huachuca Mountains, Ariz., says:
“A most abundant summer resident in the lower parts of the mountains;
a few winter here but they are scarce during the cold weather. I saw
but two or three during February and the early part of March, about the
middle of March they began to arrive in numbers, and by April 1 were
most abundant. Primarily a bird of the oak woods they seldom venture
into the higher parts of the mountains, breeding almost entirely below
6,000 feet.”
_Courtship._--We found this woodpecker quite common on the steep slopes
of the Huachuca Mountains in May 1922, especially in the vicinity
of Ramsay Canyon, between 5,000 and 6,000 feet elevation. They were
usually seen in the open groves of tall pines mixed with oaks. A
tall dead pine seemed to be one of their favorite resorts for their
courtship displays, which were both showy and noisy. They reminded me
of flickers as they dodged about the branches, chasing each other and
displaying their conspicuous markings.
_Nesting._--I have the records of four sets of eggs, all taken in the
Huachuca Mountains but in a variety of nesting sites. There are two
sets in the Thayer collection; one, containing six eggs, was taken on
May 10, 1897, from a hole 8 inches deep in the dead limb of a sycamore,
30 feet from the ground; the other set of five eggs was taken on June
1, 1902, from a cavity 10 inches deep in an ash stump, 20 feet from the
ground. A set of three eggs, in my collection, was collected by O. W.
Howard on May 31, 1901; the nest was 6 feet above ground in a dead oak
stump. Frank C. Willard took a set of five eggs on May 31, 1899, from a
cavity 15 inches deep, 35 feet up in a large dead pine stub.
_Eggs._--Mearns’s woodpecker evidently lays three to six eggs. Major
Bendire (1895) mentions a set of ten eggs, taken by F. H. Fowler,
which were “evidently the product of two females.” The eggs are pure
white, of course, and vary from short-ovate to rounded-ovate, with
only a slight gloss. The measurements of 20 eggs average 24.07 by
18.91 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =26.8=
by =17.8= (a long narrow egg), 23.9 by =20.8=, and =22.4= by 19.5
millimeters.
_Plumages._--Mr. Swarth (1904) writes:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Life histories of North American woodpeckers — John Shaqi
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