Red-Cockaded Woodpecker
The Red-Cockaded Woodpecker is a small black and white bird from the Southeastern United States.  It has been on the endangered species list since 1970 and remains on the list today.  
    
woodpecker The Red-Cockaded Woodpecker is on average, seven inches long and fourteen inches in wingspan.  It lives in pine forests ranging in age from 80 to 120 years of age, with little or no underbrush.  The male drills a tiny hole in the tree to use as a home to raise its children.  As the male is drilling the hole, sap oozes and hardens. The sap is used as a defense mechanism to ward off snakes or other predators. Once the home is made the female will lay her eggs in the small nest. Eggs are laid during the months of April, May, and June.  On average she will lay five to seven eggs. Although they have the capability to take care of the young themselves, the mother and father sometimes have three to five helper birds, which are usually male offspring from previous years. This family is often referred to as a group or cluster.  In the group the males are usually distinguished by a red patch on their neck or head area.   The woodpeckers diet is mostly of insects but it also survives on wild fruit.    
   


Location


The Red-Cockaded Woodpecker lives primarily in the southeast portion of the United States.  These states include: Texas, Oklahoma, Missourri, Arkansas, Lousiuana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolin, Virginia, and Rhode Island.



                                                                                                        


Why have the Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers been on the endangered species list since 1970?
Numbers of Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers have declined due mainly to loss of habitat.  The pine forests have been cut down to make room for homes, farmland, or because the trees are too old to leave standing.  Some pine forests left standing have too thick of underbrush for the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker to live in.  Efforts are being made to burn this underbrush to give a home to the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker.  Once the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker has lived in a tree, the tree usually dies out shortly after.  This means that the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker may actually be adding to its own demise.  The pine trees take many years to grow old enough to house the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker.  If trees are not replanted after others die out, than the loss of habitat problem will only increase.  Even if the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker finds a tree and drills a hole, it may still lose its home.  Sometimes larger birds drill bigger holes in the  nest, leaving the woodpecker homeless.
more info, Loss of Habitat  


Recovery Plans

Recovery has been a slow process for the Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers.  Recovery plans have been made in meetings called symposiums.  There have been four symposiums in the years of: 1971, 1983, 1993, and the most recent in 2003. info on, Recovery plans In these symposiums special interest groups that care about the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker gather to share and compare research, propose ideas on recovery, and eventually come up with a recovery plan.   The main focus is to increase the number of Red-Cockaded Woodpecker populations by doing more research, managing habitat in federal lands, encouraging habitat managment on private lands, and inform the public.  More and more momentum is gained after every symposium.  The numbers that attend have increased every year, with all the states where the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker live have been represented.




Thanks to Window on the Woodlands, link and the Texas Agricultural Extension Service link for the pictures.

Information gathered from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service link


Pat Gerlach
Illinois College
Jacksonville, Il 62650
last revised 5-6-03

The purpose of this web site is to give a little insight on the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker, its life, near extinction, and recovery plans.  The links are set up to help you gather detailed information on the topic of interest..  It is aimed towards students under the college level.