White-crowned Woodpecker
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IUCN Conservation Status: Least concern (LC)
Description:
Medium
sized woodpecker with a squarish head and long, straight, chisel-like bill,
roughly the same length as the head. Head black with white crown, eyeline, and malar stripes and a small red spot at the rear of the head in males, black
in females. Black and white striping on back and wings. Throat and undersides
white, with some slight streaking on flanks. Tail mostly black, with white outer feathers.
Voice:
Most
common call is a clear, sharp “peek”. Other calls include a longer whinny and a
quick alarm rattle. Both sexes drum on trees throughout the year to establish
territories, attract mates, communicate with mates, and intimidate threats.
Drumming quick and even paced, usually lasting about one second.
Range and Habitat:
Range
encompasses most of Novasola, excluding the interior steppe. The most general
of native woodpeckers, they can be found in any forest ecosystem, including
temperate rainforest, conifer, mixed, and deciduous forests, dry pine and
juniper stands, and oak savannah. They prefer mature stands or stands with
large to medium sized trees, but they will use early successional stands. They may
also be found in man-made habitats like yards, gardens, and parks and will
visit feeders, especially during the winter.
Discussion:
One
of the most common woodpeckers on Novasola, the White-crowned Woodpecker can
be found in forests across the island, as well as developed lands like agricultural
areas, and urban and suburban zones. Closely related to the Hairy Woodpecker of mainland
North America, it was often called the Novasola Hairy
Woodpecker. It has even gone through a confusing taxonomic history, having first been put in the genus Picus, then Picoides, then moved to Dryobates, and a few sources now list it as Leuconotopicus, but this placement is contentious, and in many ways relies on the placement of the Hairy Woodpecker.
Like
most woodpeckers, the White-crowned Woodpecker forages by clinging to trees
and hammering the wood, mostly standing trunks and branches, to form
excavations. With these holes the woodpecker gains access to woodboring insects
and other invertebrates, which it then extracts using its long, barbed tongue. Despite
their destructive foraging style, they are often welcomed in orchards and
plantations, as studies have shown woodpeckers do a great deal to limit wood
pest outbreaks. The holes produced by this behavior are fairly large, though
not to the extent of the Red-chinned Woodpecker, and usually round. They may
make many holes in the same branch or trunk. The hammering of these holes creates
a loud noise which can sometimes be heard for miles, and woodpeckers often
hammer to purposefully produce that sound, which helps them communicate with
other birds including mates and rivals.
Mated
pairs of White-crowned Woodpeckers stay together in the same territory, and will
defend that territory, throughout the year. Come nesting season they will
excavate a cavity in deadwood, often in dead branches of living trees or in
dead trees, and prefer to use cavities in branches, where the entrance is aimed
toward the ground. It is thought this is an adaptation to hide their nests from
predators and to help ease competition with other woodpeckers and cavity-nesters.
They typically have only one brood a year and lay 3-5 eggs. The White-crowned Woodpecker is, like many woodpeckers, crucial to healthy forest ecosystems, as
many other species use the woodpecker’s holes, they keep pest populations down,
and they aid in the decomposition of dead and rotting wood.
Because
of their adaptability and generalist nature, White-crowned Woodpeckers have
faced less severe population declines than many other endemic woodpeckers. Though
many conservation efforts on the island are aimed at helping woodpeckers
recover, most projects target other species, and most scientists consider L.
novasolensis a species of least concern. It may even hinder recovery efforts
for other woodpeckers, for as other woodpecker populations have declined the
White-crowned has expanded to fill their place.
Though
the White-crowned Woodpecker was a well-known bird on Novasola since white
settlement of the island began, it wasn’t until the Novasolan Research
Expeditions began that the bird was described as a new species. Previously it
was thought that it was the same species as the Hairy Woodpecker, despite morphological differences, but Richard
Reichwald split the group and gave the White-crowned Woodpecker its own
classification, which remains to this day.
“To
travel the wooded places of the Fastwaters, one should expect never to be far
from the company of the White-crowned Woodpecker. With an extensive range the
bird finds favorable habitat and pervades all but the youngest stands. I have
counted great numbers of the Woodpecker along the banks of the rivers Chidkayook,
Castor, and Pollux, and have observed them with perhaps equal density in the
Stone Hills and Red Mountains.
…
Likewise,
[White-crowned] are, among woodpeckers, perhaps the most comfortable with the
company of man. Unlikely to be disturbed by onlookers, the White-crowned may
carry out his business of hollowing indifferent to man’s approach. Indeed, a respectful
sportsman may move toward and even stand at the base of the very tree a
Woodpecker forages on without causing the bird to flee, which allows even the least
observant among us to become acquainted and familiar with the bird.
The
same cannot be said, however, when regarding the nest tree. The Woodpecker is
an avid and aggressive guardian of its nest and will mob any intruder unfortunate
enough to approach. Amid these scuffles the bird will chirp and call loudly,
diving at the invader with a bill like a chisel, antithetically revealing its
nesting location to anything within earshot. Their determination and bravery is
so that the Woodpecker will engage battle with even large predators like hawks
and owls and might travel distances out of their way to attack such villians.” –
Native Birds of Novasola, 1912