Length: 8.5 inches | Wingspan: 14 inches | Seasonality: Non-resident in South Dakota |
ID Keys: Black-and-white barring on back, white underparts with spotted flanks, white face with dark malar stripe and black cap and forehead |
The
Red-cockaded Woodpeckers is a specialist of mature pine forests of the
southeastern United States. They have picky habitat requirements,
preferring old-growth pine forests where the trees are old enough to be
affected by "red heart" disease, a fungal attack that softens the core of
pine trees and makes excavation of nest holes easier for the woodpeckers.
With the large-scale clearing and commercial forestry of the southeastern
United States, Red-cockaded Woodpeckers declined dramatically in the 19th
and 20th centuries. The current emphasis on commercial forestry in
much of the home range of the Red-cocakded Woodpecker has result in
large-scale conversion of "natural" forest ecosystems with loblolly pine
plantations, with cutting cycles as short as 15 to 20 years. As a
result, trees don't mature enough to be affected by red-heart disease, and
are thus unsuitable for nesting by the Red-cockaded Woodpecker.
Conservation efforts in the southeast have focused on maintaining stands of
suitably aged nesting trees, offering artificial nesting cavities, and using
controlled burns to maintain an open understory. Populations are still
scattered and local, but conservation efforts have resulted in increases in
overall populations in recent years.
Click below for a higher-resolution map |
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South Dakota Status: Non-resident in South Dakota |