Life histories of North American woodpeckersBent, Arthur Cleveland
Science
Life histories of North American woodpeckers
Bent, Arthur Cleveland
Birds -- North America; Woodpeckers -- North America
While the files of the Biological Survey contain the data for more than
4,600 of these birds that have been marked with numbered bands, many
of which have been subsequently recovered, only one of these indicates
a flight of any distance from the point of banding. This bird (83460),
banded on February 2, 1925, at Elkader, Iowa, was found dead at Balsam
Lake, Wis., on October 25, 1925. The distance between the two points is
about 185 miles.
_Egg dates._--Alberta: 12 records, May 25 to June 14.
California: 82 records, April 7 to June 9; 41 records, April 24 to
May 13, indicating the height of the season.
Colorado: 9 records, May 4 to June 30.
Florida: 7 records, April 2 to May 14.
Illinois: 16 records, April 3 to June 3; 8 records, May 12 to 20.
New York: 12 records, May 10 to June 2.
Washington: 8 records, May 1 to June 2.
DRYOBATES PUBESCENS GAIRDNERI (Audubon)
GAIRDNER’S WOODPECKER
HABITS
This subspecies of our well-known downy woodpecker is one of those
well-marked dark-colored races that occur in the humid Northwest coast
region, ranging in the Transition Zone from southern British Columbia
to Mendocino County, Calif. It is practically a small edition of the
equally dark Harris’s woodpecker, which inhabits the same region.
Its characters are so well marked that it was recognized and named
by Audubon (1842). Ridgway (1914) describes it as “similar to _D. p.
turati_, but color of under parts darker (often light brownish gray or
drab), the white of back often tinged with brownish gray.”
D. E. Brown, in his notes from western Washington, says: “Gairdner’s
woodpecker is next to the commonest woodpecker in western Washington,
the northwestern flicker being the only one that outnumbers it. This,
the smallest of the woodpeckers in this locality, is fond of old river
beds, willow swamps, and the deciduous trees along streams. It is found
here at all times of year but seems to be more in evidence in winter,
probably because the leaves are off the trees where it is usually
found.”
_Nesting._--Mr. Brown states further that “it digs its nesting cavity
usually in a dead willow stub of small size, but at times it excavates,
with much labor, a cavity in a growing tree. Nests have been found as
low as 3 feet from the ground, and they are seldom more than 30 feet
up. Three to six eggs are laid, five being the usual number. The first
week in May is the best time for fresh eggs. The incubating bird has
a habit that, I think, saves its eggs many times; when the stub that
contains the eggs is rapped, the sitting bird comes to the opening with
its bill full of chips from the bottom of the nest; these are dropped
outside, and the bird drops back into the nest, only to repeat this
action when the rapping is repeated. I have seen this performance not
once but many times, and I think it a regular occurrence when the eggs
are well incubated.”
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