September 29, 2022
| Crimson-cockaded Woodpecker by Chuck Gehringer |
It’s not usually that FeederWatch members report endangered species of their yard. This previous August, long-time FeederWatcher Chuck Gehringer noticed a Crimson-cockaded Woodpecker at his dwelling in Pinehurst, North Carolina.
These small birds are recognized by a black-and-white striped again, a white cheek, and, on males, a tiny, almost invisible crimson streak (“cockade”) on the higher border of the cheek. Gehringer’s identification was helped by earlier expertise with the species–he had seen Crimson-cockaded Woodpeckers at Fred C. Babcock/Cecil M. Webb Wildlife Administration space in Florida and at Weymouth Woods-Sandhills Nature Protect in North Carolina.
The Crimson-cockaded Woodpecker is a habitat specialist of the Southeast’s once-vast longleaf pine stands. This previous pine habitat with little or no understory was formed by the area’s frequent lightning fires. These woodpeckers can even inhabit stands of loblolly, slash, and different pine species. The species declined drastically as logging destroyed its most well-liked habitat. Whereas as soon as widespread, Companions in Flight estimates there are as few as 19,000 people left. Study extra about Crimson-cockaded Woodpeckers on the Cornell Lab’s All About Birds web site.
Gehringer instructed us that he heard the woodpecker earlier than he noticed it, saying, “I heard it pecking on a tree in entrance of me. It then flew to a close-by pine tree and continued pecking. I used to be in a position to take a couple of poor images of it because of the wet climate that day.” Thankfully, the woodpecker returned, and Gehringer was in a position to get a higher picture, which he later uploaded to FeederWatch’s Participant Images Gallery Gehringer has seen the woodpecker a couple of extra instances since then, even recognizing three people visiting his suet feeder in late August.
The Crimson-cockaded Woodpeckers visiting Gehringer’s feeders are banded, as could be seen within the picture. Fowl banding, which includes putting a metallic band and typically colourful plastic bands round birds legs (in addition to gathering information in regards to the birds), may help scientists differentiate between people of a species, in addition to examine birds’ age, ranges, and extra. Fowl banding within the U.S. is regulated by the US Geological Survey, they usually have a web site you should utilize to report banded birds. It stays to be seen whether or not these non-migratory woodpeckers will stick round in Gehringer’s yard for the upcoming 2022-23 FeederWatch season, however because of the bands, Gehringer ought to have the ability to inform if the identical people return, or if totally different Crimson-cockaded Woodpeckers seem.
Individuals are welcome to share images of birds, FeederWatch depend websites,or individuals watching birds by importing images to our Participant Images Gallery web page, positioned beneath the Neighborhood tab on the Challenge FeederWatch web site.
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