September 29, 2022

| Purple-cockaded Woodpecker by Chuck Gehringer |

It’s not usually that FeederWatch contributors report endangered species of their yard. This previous August, long-time FeederWatcher Chuck Gehringer noticed a Purple-cockaded Woodpecker at his residence in Pinehurst, North Carolina. 

These small birds are recognized by a black-and-white striped again, a white cheek, and, on males, a tiny, practically invisible purple streak (“cockade”) on the higher border of the cheek. Gehringer’s identification was helped by earlier expertise with the species–he had seen Purple-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 Purple-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 may also inhabit stands of loblolly, slash, and different pine species. The species declined drastically as logging destroyed its most popular habitat. Whereas as soon as widespread, Companions in Flight estimates there are as few as 19,000 people left. Be taught extra about Purple-cockaded Woodpeckers on the Cornell Lab’s All About Birds web site.

Gehringer advised 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 pictures of it because of the wet climate that day.” Thankfully, the woodpecker returned, and Gehringer was in a position to get a higher photograph, which he later uploaded to FeederWatch’s Participant Pictures Gallery Gehringer has seen the woodpecker a couple of extra occasions since then, even recognizing three people visiting his suet feeder in late August.

The Purple-cockaded Woodpeckers visiting Gehringer’s feeders are banded, as will be seen within the photograph. Hen banding, which includes inserting a steel band and typically colourful plastic bands round birds legs (in addition to gathering knowledge in regards to the birds), might help scientists differentiate between people of a species, in addition to research birds’ age, ranges, and extra. Hen banding within the U.S. is regulated by the US Geological Survey, and so they have a web site you should use 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 Purple-cockaded Woodpeckers seem.

Contributors are welcome to share pictures of birds, FeederWatch rely websites,or folks watching birds by importing pictures to our Participant Pictures Gallery web page, situated beneath the Neighborhood tab on the Venture FeederWatch web site. 

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