| |
woodpeckers (Dryocopus pileatus). They were perched
quietly on a snag awaiting the first rays of the
awakening sun. When the contented couple spotted an
interloper, they flew into the pinewoods without a
sound. Pileateds fly straight-winged, not in a
bouncing pattern like smaller woodpeckers.
Their entranceway, drilled
in the selected tree, is nothing like other
woodpeckers' architectural designs either.
It looks more like an actual door! A large
oval or rectangular hole, 3 to 4 inches wide
and twice as long, is drilled into the
center of the decaying snag to accommodate
the birds' sixteen to nineteen-and-a-half
inch bodies. Strong, chisel-shaped beaks and
muscular bodies along with brains encased in
air and well-fortified skulls, enable this
jackhammer species to pound away with
amazing force.
|
 |
After digging their claws into the bark and
setting their tail as support, the pileateds
arch their neck and head back eight inches
to get full purchase on the targeted plot of
real estate. As they play their own
percussion piece of twelve strokes,
delivered with increasing force and
frequency toward the middle of the sequence
and fading at the end, pieces of bark (some as large as a human fist) come
showering down. The rhythmic builder pays no
mind, just continues construction.
When feeding, Woody excavates through two to
three inches of hardwood to reach the heart
of the tree. Carpenter ants enter through
the base to dwell and survive on the core
wood. The king of the woodpeckers uses his
long, barbed tongue for the task of locating
nests of these ants, a favored delicacy.
Two-thousand-six-hundred carpenter ants were |
| found by a biologist, during a necropsy
in one bird's stomach alone! (Benyus, 1989) |
These flaming red-crested
woodpeckers may also be seen performing acrobatic
movements around small branches to get at berries,
nuts or fruit, which make up one-quarter of their
diet. Mates will call to one another as they forage.
Fallen logs and stumps provide ample wood-boring
beetles to round out their food supply.
Snags, or dead standing trees,
are the pileated woodpeckers favorite nesting sites
in which to raise a brood. Leave them standing on
your property if you would like to host a bonded
pair. Eggs, usually 3 to 5, are laid between
February and May. The parent birds work in shifts
incubating the eggs and feeding the young through
regurgitation. Yum! After approximately two hours,
the mate on duty will drum on the walls of the
cavity to call for relief. The off-duty parent
returns to the nest to exchange roles. Whew!
The young are ready, after all
their parents' attentive fussing, to leave the nest
at 26 to 28 days after hatching. Some are so content
on the nest, however, that they remain for two to
three months. That corresponds to recent trends of
adult children remaining with their ever loving
parents. Why spoil a good thing if you’ve got it?
Year after year, the pileated pair will return to
the same tree, boring a new hole each season to
expand the suites available. There are several
mature couples here at the Alligator Creek Preserve,
but many more can be seen all over the Charlotte
Harbor area. Just look for the Woody Woodpecker
look-a-likes. That’s all folks!
Please click here for additional information
or if you would like to contact the
author of this article, Monica Dorken. Thank you!
|
|
