OHIO`S WOODPECKERS:

Ohio State University Extension
OHIO’S WOODPECKERS: FLICKERS, SAPSUCKERS, DOWNIES, AND MORE!
Marne Titchenell
Wildlife Program Specialist
School of Environment and Natural Resources
What Will We Talk About:
– Amazing abilities of woodpeckers
– Woodpecker Habitat
– The Life of a Woodpecker
– Ohio’s Woodpeckers
– Attracting Woodpeckers
The Woodpeckers: Nature’s Power Tools
– Highly specialized group of birds
• Nature’s power tools
• Carpenters of the bird world
• Specialize in cavity excavation
• Insect excavators
The Woodpecker Family
– Picidae
• Piculets (2)
• Wrynecks
‐ Genus Jynx
• Picids
‐ Woodpeckers
‐ Sapsuckers
– US woodpeckers are picids
• 22 species
• 7 in Ohio
Diversity of Family Picidae
Smallest & Largest ‐ Worldwide
Bar‐breasted Piculet
Smallest & Largest – United States
Downy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Imperial Woodpecker
The Ivory‐Billed Woodpecker Story
– Largest woodpecker north of Mexico
– Was found in mature forests in southeast US
– Believed to be extinct since mid‐1900’s
– Rediscovered in Arkansas, 2005
– Controversy over rediscover, still no agreement
The Woodpeckers: Very Specialized Family
– Avoiding brain damage
– Specialized beak
– Long tongue with modified tip
– Protected nostrils and eyes
– Short legs and strong toes
– Stiff tail feathers
– Protective coloring
– Large ribs for extra muscle attachment The Woodpecker: World’s Best Shock Absorber
Strength and speed of impact:
• 100 times per minute
• Speeds of 12‐15 mph
• Force of 600‐1500 G’s
• Decelerating after 1200 G’s = coming to compete stop from 26,000 mph
–Human left with concussion after 100 G’s
–How do woodpeckers avoid brain damage on a daily basis??
The Woodpecker: World’s Best Shock Absorber
– Frontal bone in skull
• Helps keep upper bill in place
– Cartilage for cushion
• Extra between bill and skull to absorb shock
‐ Protractor muscle
– Perfect aim
• Each blow delivered straight on (perfect right angle)
– Tiny padded brain
• Brain lacks the mass to develop enough inertia to cause damage
• Brain placement in skull and 90 degree angle attack
‐ Shock wave travels below brain
A Little Extra Muscle Never Hurts
– Wider neck ribs for more muscle attachment
• More muscle to absorb shock and constantly drill, peck, hack, and whack!
That’s One Weird Looking Tongue!
– Tongue bone • Hyoid apparatus
‐ Long slender, flexible bones
‐ Serve as attachment site for muscles
‐ Longer tongue = more muscles = more extension and strength
Why are Woodpecker Tongues so Special?
– It’s on the tip of the tongue…
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Sensitive
Sticky
Hairy
Barbed
Specialized Beak
– Shape – Length
– Size
– Self sharpening
• Bony inner structure covered with durable, leathery sheath (ramphotheca)
‐ Constantly growing
• Like fingernails
‐ Constantly sharpened by everyday abrasion
Safety Glasses and Nose Protection
– Feathers to protect nostrils and filter air
– Eyes tightly fit in skull
• Prevents injury during pecking
– Blink to protect eye
• Also serves as “seat belt”
– Well positioned eyes
• Will see predators when tree directly in front of them
• See quite well and in color
Strong Feet and Tail Feathers
– Amazing feet
• Zygodactyl toes
‐ Two toes forwards
‐ Two toes backward
– Tail feathers
• 3rd leg of the tripod
• Center 2 feathers longest and strongest
‐ Pointed tips, reinforced shaft, strong interlocking barbs
‐ Molted last
Protective Clothing
– Disruptive Coloration
• Helps to conceal from predators • Sharp contrast breaks up and hides shape and outline
Meet Ohio’s Woodpeckers!
Woodpecker Habitat Needs
– Trees a requirement
• For nesting and feeding
• Larger the woodpecker, larger the tree needed
‐ Pileated woodpecker
– Exception to the rule:
‘
• Gila Woodpecker
‐ Resides in southwest deserts and into Mexico
Saguaro Cactus
Woodpecker Habitat Needs
– Food
• Insects main food
‐ Eggs, larvae, adults
‐ Ants and beetles
• One flicker stomach had over 3,000 ants in it!
‐ Moths and butterflies
‐ Caterpillars ‐ Spiders
Woodpecker Habitat Needs
– Food
• Bird eggs and nestlings
‐ Red‐bellied woodpecker
• Fruit (berries)
Oooo, a plane!
Woodpecker Habitat Needs
– Food
• Acorns, seeds, nuts
‐ A few species will cache nuts over winter
• Red‐headed woodpecker
Woodpecker Habitat Needs
– Acorn Woodpecker
• Drills acorn sized holes into trees
‐ Granary – primary tree for each family
‐ Up to 50,000 holes each with 1 acorn Woodpecker Habitat Needs
– Food
• Sap
‐ Yellow‐bellied sapsucker
‐ Feed at sapwells
• Small holes pecked in neat rows ‐ Sap is about 20‐30% of their diet
• Other wildlife benefits
• Tree usually heals Woodpecker Habitat Needs
– Food
• Sap
‐ Yellow‐bellied sapsucker
‐ Feed at sapwells
• Small holes pecked in neat rows ‐ Sap is about 20‐30% of their diet
• Other wildlife benefits
• Tree usually heals Woodpecker Habitat Needs
– Migration
• Yellow‐bellied sapsucker
‐ Stopover in Ohio to feed and rest
– Rest of Ohio woodpeckers remain year round
Woodpecker Communication
‐ Calls not songs
‐ Single note repeated over and over
‐ Most woodpeckers have variety of calls
‐ Used for communication
‐ Territoriality
‐ Mating
‐ Alarm
‐ Drumming
‐ Also form of communication
‐ Mainly during breeding season
Woodpecker Breeding Season
– Starts with males securing territories in early spring
• Large the bird = larger the territory
‐ Downy – ½‐1 acre
‐ Pileated – 1‐2 sq. miles
– Cavity excavation
• Most create their own
• Flickers will use existing cavity
– Tree selection
• Decaying tree or live tree
‐ Live trees can work for larger woodpeckers
Are you about done with that cavity?
Woodpecker Cavity Excavation
– Male begins excavation
• Cavity preparation pair bonding
• Male does most of the work
• Can take 1‐3 weeks
‐ Pileated – 3‐6 weeks – Entrance hole as small as possible
• Clue to woodpecker species
‐ Downy – 1 ¼” circle
‐ Pileated – 3½ x 4” oval
Woodpecker Reproduction
– Color of bird eggs VIP
• Camouflage – Woodpeckers lay white eggs
• No camouflage needed
– Most only one brood a year
• Hairy – 6 eggs
• Red‐headed – 10 eggs
– Both parents incubate, feed, and raise young
• Both have brood patches
Hatching Time!
Ohio’s Woodpeckers
Pileated Woodpecker
– Largest Ohio woodpecker (and US)
– Habitat
• Large tract of mature woods
• Large trees for roosting
• Carpenter ants, wood‐
boring insects and other invertebrates, & mast
Pileated Woodpecker
– Fairly common across range
Northern Flicker
Red Shafted ‐ Western
– Pic Flamboyant (French) • Large, brown noisy, animated, uniquely patterned woodpecker
– Habitat
Yellow Shafted – East & North
• Woodlands, forest edges, & open fields with scattered trees, as well as city parks and suburbs
• Ground‐loving – ant eater, also beetles and other inverts, and mast
‐ Pecks soil for ants
Northern Flicker
Red Shafted ‐ Western
Yellow Shafted – East & North
– Widespread and common throughout range
Red‐bellied Woodpecker
– Despite name, red belly rarely visible
– Habitat
• Most forests, woodlands, and wooded suburbs of the eastern United States
• Insects, spiders, and other arthropods, mast, and sometimes lizards and nestling birds
‐ Barbed tongue with sticky saliva
– Populations increasing throughout most of range
Red‐headed Woodpecker
– Bold patterns earned nickname – “flying checker board”
• Males and females identical
– Habitat
• Woodlands with oak or beech, groves of dead or dying trees, and open areas (burned, harvested)
• 1/3 insect and 2/3 mast
juvenile
‐ Seeds, berries, nuts
‐ Successful aerial hawkers
Red‐headed Woodpecker
– Once common throughout range, now uncommon and local in many regions
• Nomadic Yellow‐bellied Sapsucker
– Ohio’s only migratory woodpecker
• April‐May except NE Ohio
– Habitat
• Young forests and edge habitat, esp. forests regenerating from timber harvesting
• Sap is primary food, but also insects (ants and spiders)
Yellow‐bellied Sapsucker
– Widest range of 4 species of sapsuckers in US
•Populations stable, but require young forests
Hairy Woodpecker
Can I help you with something?
– Larger of 2 look‐alikes of Ohio woodpeckers
• Hairy – larger, longer bill and body
‐ Bill roughly as long as head
‐ All white outer tail feathers
– Habitat
• Mature woodlands with medium to large trees
‐ Urban and rural areas
• 75% diet is insects
• Readily visits suet feeders
Hairy Woodpecker
Can I help you with something?
– One of most widespread of all NA woodpeckers
Downy Woodpecker
‐ Smallest woodpecker in Ohio and US
• Bill roughly 1/3 size of head
• Black spots on white outer tail feathers
‐ Habitat
• Open woodlands, particularly deciduous woods and along streams
‐ Rural and urban areas
• Diet mainly insects
• Readily visits suet feeders
Downy Woodpecker
– Numerous across range with stable population numbers
Attracting Woodpeckers
– Trees a requirement
• Dead or dying trees
‐ In multiple stages of decay
– Size of woodlot
• Small – Downie, Hairy, Red‐
bellied
• Larger – Pileated
– Nest boxes where cavities and snags lacking
• Flickers
– Feeders
• Especially in winter!
– Bird baths
Nuisance Woodpeckers
– Problems:
• Damage to building
• Usually between June – Feb.
– Management Options:
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• Woodpeckers are protected by law
‐ Can not physically harm them
• Scare tactics
• Window decals, reflective materials (CDs, mylar tape), loud noises
• Netting
‐ Excludes woodpeckers • Tactile repellents
‐ Birds don’t like sticky feet
Woodpecker helping trees, too!
– Alphabet soup for dinner!
• EAB and ALB
‐ Emerald Ash Borer and Asian Longhorned Beetle
Online Resources
– Cornell Lab of Ornithology – All About Birds
• www.allaboutbirds.org
– Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management
• www.icwdm.org
Questions?
– OSU Woodland Stewards
• www.woodlandstewards.osu.edu
– Marne Titchenell
• titchenell.4@osu.edu
• 614‐292‐0402