Harlequin Woodpecker
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Harlequin
Woodpecker, Melanerpes
grammacus L 25-27 cm, WS 73-75 cm, Family: Picidae
IUCN Conservation
Status: Vulnerable (VU)
Description:
Medium
sized woodpecker with a large head and chisel-like bill. Head intricately
patterned with a black and white striped face and flame orange-red crown and
nape. Wings and back are black, undersides are white with dense black barring. Breast
covered in reddish wash. Tail mostly black but outer feathers are white with
heavy barring. Bill is blueish and eyes are red. Sexes similar, juveniles
heavily barred and become reddish in patches.
Voice:
Extremely
vocal woodpecker. Common calls include a nasal cackling, raspier cackling,
chirps, and various high-pitched squawks. Will rattle when alarmed, and often
chatters when in groups. Both sexes drum on trees throughout the year to establish
territories, attract mates, communicate with mates, and intimidate threats. Two
drumming patterns exist, a two-part fast and even paced drumming lasting 2-3
seconds, seemingly used against rivals or threats, and a slower, more
variably-patterned drumming more associated with courtship and within-pair
communication.
Range and Habitat:
Range
encompasses most of Novasola outside the western forests. More common in the
intermountain prairie and Fairweather Sound regions, though occasionally seen
in the Twin River basin and Morning Mountains, especially at high elevations. They
prefer open forests, especially oak savannah, dry pine and juniper forests, and
prairie cottonwood and willow stands. Also common in grassland and shrubland
provided some tree stands are present on the landscape. May be found in
man-made habitats like small town parks, yards, and agricultural areas,
especially orchards and farmsteads.
Discussion:
The
boldly-patterned Harlequin Woodpecker is a distinct and unusual woodpecker
native to eastern Novasola. They are noteworthy not only for their striking
facial patterns, but also their interesting and unique foraging and social behaviors.
Found
mostly in open woodlands and savannah, Harlequin Woodpeckers are uncommon
across Novasola but often outnumber any other woodpecker species in their
range. Harlequins prefer dry woodlands of oak, pine, or juniper, and may also
use riparian thickets within the prairie and even high-elevation pine stands in
the Morning Mountains. They will frequently use recently burned areas and can
often be found within post-fire forest stands. Like many woodpeckers Harlequins
are reliant on dead wood for nests. They also commonly use the large
cottonwoods, willows, and oaks characteristic of rural human settlements.
Homesteads and farms provide Harlequins with sparce tree cover and more novel
nesting structures like old or abandoned barns and wood-sided buildings, and
wooden posts for fences and powerlines. Orchards and plantations are also
commonly used by the woodpecker.
Despite
their classification as woodpeckers, Harlequins actually peck at wood
relatively rarely outside communication. Unlike other woodpeckers that drill
holes into trees to reach wood-boring insects, Harlequins eat mainly seeds and
when they do forage for insects it’s usually by peeling away bark, probing cervices,
or gleaning from leaves and needles. The Harlequin’s diet consists mainly of
acorns and large pine seeds. Acorns of any size or species will do, though they
seem to be more selective about pine seeds, preferring only the larger seeds
from species like Forster or Yellowcone Pine. During warmer months Harlequins
will supplement their diet with insects and other invertebrates, and they will
eat suet from feeders. Harlequin Woodpeckers exhibit food caching behavior, meaning
they collect and store food, mainly acorns and seeds, to return to when food is
scarce. Harlequins form caches in tree hollows, either ones they excavate
themselves or more commonly holes formed naturally or by other species. Harlequins
are known to fight other woodpeckers, squirrels, and even owls out of their
nest cavities just so the Harlequin could use it as a cache site. They may completely
fill caches and form numerous caches within their territory; it’s common for Harlequins
to have up to ten active caches, and they visit caches throughout the year. Though
usually small, one extreme example of a Harlequin Woodpecker cache was
discovered within the hollow center of an old silver maple which filled a
ten-foot cavity in the dead tree and numbered over a million acorns. Harlequin
Woodpeckers often establish caches in man-made objects like bluebird boxes,
outhouses, mailboxes, and abandoned automobiles or other machinery.
Rare
in woodpeckers but somewhat common for its genus, Harlequin Woodpeckers are
often found in social groups and engage in cooperative breeding. Harlequin
groups are usually composed of up to ten birds who all share caches, nest
sites, and help raise young. Nests are built in tree cavities, sometimes
excavated by the woodpeckers themselves but more often they choose pre-existing
cavities like they do with their cache sites. Nest cavities are almost
exclusively placed in dead wood. If multiple members of the group lay eggs,
they will do so in the same nest and all members of the group aid in bringing
chicks food. Harlequins are nonmigratory and usually remain within the same
area year-round, excluding a dispersal period in young birds prior to
establishing a territory or social group of their own. All members of the group
also help defend the territory from intruders or rivals, and Harlequin
Woodpecker groups often steal from rival caches and fight neighboring groups
over these cache raids, which they do fiercely. These disputes can become quite
a spectacle, wherein a large number of conspicuous birds all begin vocalizing
and drumming loudly and frequent mobbings by each group.
The
Harlequin Woodpecker is now rather rare, though experts suspect they were never
particularly numerous. That said, they have major declines in population, the
cause of which is not well understood. Outside the Twin River Basin, habitat
loss doesn’t seem to be a significant factor, like it has been for forest
species, and the leading theory is competition with introduced or subsidized
species for food and cavities like squirrels and other rodents, or the introduction
of predators in the form of cats. Indigenous cultures have strong connections
to the bird, especially the Yukandaluk and other prairie tribes, and the
Yukandaluk Nation is responsible for the majority of conservation efforts aimed
at the woodpecker. The Yukandaluk call the bird alitxumiq, roughly
translating to “little warrior”. They view the birds as strong warriors and
draw parallels between the woodpecker’s social group warfare with their own
tribal conflicts. What’s more, Yukandaluk men, especially fighters, would tattoo
their faces with dark stripes that bear a striking resemblance to the
patterning on the woodpecker’s faces. This patterning, along with laughter-like
calls, is also where the bird gets its English name. “Harlequin” refers to the
colorful and clownlike character from Commedia dell'arte, or Italian
Comedy, of the 16th through 18th centuries.
Originally
described for science in 1903 by Richard Reichwald, the Harlequin Woodpecker is
a dramatic and flashy bird that had somehow managed to fly under the scientific
community’s radar, so to speak. Indigenous groups were obviously well aware of
the bird, and even the Anglo-American settlers and colonists who moved into
Novasola’s arid regions became familiar with the bird. There are many writings
from early pioneers that reference loud, raucous woodpeckers with red heads
placing seeds in stove pipes and such, but for whatever reason this knowledge
never made it beyond the region’s borders. As a result, Reichwald, despite
preparing extensively for the NRC expeditions, had no idea the bird existed.
“After heading south for an hour, the
country began to open up, with the pines first giving way to drier deciduous
cover which in turn gave way to shrubs and grasses, until we were out of
evergreen entirely and found ourselves in savannah, open arid country of sparse
oaks, arbutus, and silver-grass. Stalking through the high grass was
challenging for no reason beyond the myriad distractions presented to me, in
forms of new sounds and new sights Captain Dyer would classify as “work”. I was
however to glance three species yet undescribed, most notably a woodpecker of
dark color and ochre head. I shall be sure to return to this area tomorrow for
more exhaustive search.” – Expedition log, June 20, 1902
“Taking a different path back to camp, I was finally
met with the encounter I chased. In a gully between two grassy rises stood an
unassuming, though deceptively vast, woodland of mature oaks into which I
retreated for shade. I had stepped no more than five paces into the grove when
I heard a cacophony of laughing wails and rattles. Flying about from tree to
tree were woodpeckers, no doubt of the same species as yesterday’s mystery
bird. The birds numbered at least twelve, and while most stayed in the canopy,
obscured by foliage and branches, one or two would occasionally alight on the
trucks or low branches to scuttle about the bark in creeping fashion or to
scold me from afar.” – Expedition log, June 21, 1902
“These woodpeckers are singular in their
appearance with a stark cheeks, throat, and forehead outlined in thick black striping.
This garish face contrasts with the dark yet fiery red head and breast and
black backs. At once they look foolish and frightening, clownish yet enraged. Up
close, it is impossible to disregard the elegant beauty in their markings. Their
powdered faces and dark mascara bring to mind the geishas of the Orient. And
like the geishas the woodpecker shows marked grace, nimble and for a woodpecker
rather dainty.” – Manual of Novasolan Birds, 1914
“It is said that the Little Warrior wears two
faces. The first, the one we see, is bold and light and obvious to the world.
He uses this to face his enemies and to face fears, but this is only a false
face, a mask. Below it lies his real face, red like fire and burning only for
those in the safety of home, hidden in the tree. After all, the Little Warrior
fights only because he has a family to protect. He is at heart a family man.
Many a warrior of the prairie peoples took after
the Little Warrior, and wore also a false face. They tattooed themselves with
dark stripes on their cheeks and mouths and forehead and faced their enemies
this way, but they too wished for prosperity of family and love, plentiful food
stores, and a safe home to return to.” Joseph Black Wolf, Mythology of Novasolan Native Tribes, 1989