Species: Picoides albolarvatus
White-headed Woodpecker
Species
Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
calls (Garrett et al. 1996; Dixon 1998).
Articles:
This article was originally published by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife as part of its annual report Threatened and Endangered Wildlife in Washington.
Classification
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Craniata
Class
Aves
Order
Piciformes
Family
Picidae
Genus
Picoides
NatureServe
Classification
Other Global Common Names
Pic à tête blanche
Informal Taxonomy
<p>Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Other Birds</p>
Formal Taxonomy
Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Piciformes - Picidae - Picoides
Ecology and Life History
calls (Garrett et al. 1996; Dixon 1998).
Short General Description
A small bird (woodpecker).
Migration
<p>true - true - false - In some areas, may descend to lower elevations for winter. May wander within suitable coniferous forest habitat during non-breeding season; indications of periodic irruptions questionable (Garrett et al. 1996).</p>
Non-migrant
true
Locally Migrant
true
Food Comments
Pine seeds are a major part of diet, especially in fall and winter. Birds cling to sides and bottoms of cones as they chip cones open to obtain seeds (Ligon 1973). Also probe, glean, and pry off loose bark for spiders, beetles, ants, fly larvae, and other insects (Ligon, 1973, Terres 1980, Spahr et al. 1991). May also catch some flying insects. Over the course of the year, pine seeds make up 60 percent of diet, insects 40 percent (Verner and Boss 1980). Forages in both live and dead trees. Scolytid beetles recorded taken in Idaho (Ligon 1973) and cicadas (Homoptera) in Oregon (Garrett et al. 1996). Favors seeds of ponderosa (PINUS PONDEROSA), Jeffrey (PINUS JEFFREYI), sugar (P. LAMBERTIANA), and Coulter pines (P. COULTERI), but also takes knobcone pine (P. ATTENUATA) and white fir seeds (ABIES spp.; Garret et al. 1996). Drinking water from puddles has been recorded several times (Ligon 1973).
Reproduction Comments
Nests mainly in May-June. Clutch size is four to five. Incubation by both sexes, lasts about two weeks. Nestlings are altricial, tended by both adults, fledge in about 26 days, usually around early July (Ehrlich et al. 1988).
Ecology Comments
High density is on the order of 5 pairs per 40 hectares (Spahr et al. 1991). Reaches greatest abundance where two or more large-seeded pine species occur (Garrett et al. 1996). In central Oregon, densities based on point counts ranged from 0.00-2.53 birds per 40 hectares (Dixon 1995a, cited in Garrett et al. 1996); densities based on absolute counts of breeding pairs 0.18-0.49 birds per 40 hectares in south-central Oregon, 0.52-1.06 birds per 40 hectares in central Oregon (Garrett et al. 1996). In the Sierra Nevada, California, high densities of 3.0-5.5 territories per 40 hectares recorded on Breeding Bird Censuses in an old-growth mixed conifer forest (Turner et al. 1993); densities ranged from 0.1-5.0 pairs per 40 hectares (average 2.3 pairs) on all Breeding Bird Censuses in the Sierra Nevada between 1948 and 1978 (Raphael and White 1978). <br><br>In central Oregon, home ranges varied from 67-163 hectares in continuous old-growth forest (mean 104 hectares) and from 57-445 hectares in fragmented forests (mean 321 hectares; Dixon 1995b, cited in Garrett et al. 1996). In southcentral Oregon, home ranges varied from 172-324 hectares (mean 212 hectares) in predominantly old-growth sites and 171-704 hectares (mean 342 hectares; Dixon 1995a, cited in Garrett et al. 1996).
Length
24
Weight
63
Conservation Status
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G4
Global Status Last Reviewed
1996-12-02
Global Status Last Changed
1996-12-02
Distribution
Conservation Status Map
<img src="http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/GetMapGif?CA.BC=S1&US.CA=SNR&US.ID=S2&US.NV=S2&US.OR=S2&US.WA=S2" alt="Conservation Status Map" style="width: 475px; height: auto;" />
Global Range
CE - 250-20,000 square km (about 100-8000 square miles) - CDE - RESIDENT: south-central British Columbia, north-central Washington and northern Idaho south through Oregon (east of Cascades) to southern California and west-central Nevada (AOU 1983, Garrett et al. 1996). Usually at elevations of 1200-2800 m during nesting season, may descend to lower elevations during winter. Fairly common over most of range, rare and local in north (NGS 1983).
Global Range Code
CE
Global Range Description
250-20,000 square km (about 100-8000 square miles)