Ohio State University Extension

OHIO’S : 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

– Habitat

– The Life of a Woodpecker

– Ohio’s Woodpeckers

– Attracting Woodpeckers

The Woodpeckers: Nature’s Power Tools

– Highly specialized group of

• Nature’s power tools

• Carpenters of the world

• Specialize in cavity excavation

• excavators The Woodpecker Family

– Picidae • Piculets (2) • Wrynecks ‐ Jynx • Picids ‐ Woodpeckers ‐ Sapsuckers

– US woodpeckers are picids • 22 • 7 in Ohio

Diversity of Family Picidae

Smallest & Largest - Worldwide Smallest & Largest – United States

Bar-breasted Piculet

Pileated Woodpecker

Imperial Woodpecker The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker Story

– Largest woodpecker north of

– 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…

• 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 ‐

– Exception to the rule:

‘ • Gila Woodpecker ‐ Resides in southwest deserts and into Mexico Saguaro Cactus

Woodpecker Habitat Needs

– Food • 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 Oooo, a • Bird eggs and nestlings plane! ‐ Red-bellied woodpecker • Fruit (berries)

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 Are you about done with that cavity?

– Tree selection • Decaying tree or live tree ‐ Live trees can work for larger woodpeckers

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 • Woodlands, forest edges, Yellow Shafted – East & North & 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 or beech, groves of dead or dying trees, and open areas (burned, harvested) • 1/3 insect and 2/3 mast ‐ Seeds, berries, nuts ‐ Successful aerial hawkers juvenile 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

– Larger of 2 look-alikes of Can I help you with something? 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:

‘ • 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 • [email protected] • 614-292-0402