Title

Red-Cockaded Woodpecker Foraging Behavior

Authors

D. Craig Rudolph, Wildlife Habitat and Silviculture Laboratory, Southern Research Station, U.S.D.A. Forest Service, Nacogdoches, TX 75962Follow
Richard N. Conner, Wildlife Habitat and Silviculture Laboratory, Southern Research Station, U.S.D.A., Forest Service, Nacogdoches, Texas 75962Follow
Richard R. Schaefer, Wildlife Habitat and Silviculture Laboratory, Southern Research Station, U.S.D.A. Forest Service, Nacogdoches, Texas 75965Follow
Nancy E. Koerth, Wildlife Habitat and Silviculture Laboratory, Southern Research Station, U.S.D.A., Forest Service, Nacogdoches, Texas 75962

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2007

Abstract

We studied Red-cockaded Woodpeckers (Picoides borealis) to examine the effect of status and gender on foraging behavior. Foraging behavior of breeding pairs extended beyond separation by foraging height to include zones (bole, trunk in crown, primary limb, secondary limb) of the tree used and foraging methods (scaling, probing, excavating). Helper males and juvenile females maintained partial spatial separation from breeding adults. Helper males maintained spatial separation from breeding adults by exploiting limbs within tree crowns in both longleaf (Pinus palustris) and loblolly-shortleaf (P. taeda, P. echinata) pine forests, but also increased use of boles in loblolly-shortleaf pine in concert with reduced use of boles by adult females. Breeding males tended to forage less by scaling, probably due to the reduced proportion of foraging on boles of trees where scaling tends to predominate

Comments

Rudolph, D. Craig; Conner, Richard N.; Schaefer, Richard R.; Koerth, Nancy E. Red-Cockaded woodpecker foraging behavior. Wilson Journal of Ornithology. 119(2) 2007, 170-180.

Written and prepared by U.S. Government employees on official time, therefore in the public domain

Repository Citation

Rudolph, D. Craig; Conner, Richard N.; Schaefer, Richard R.; and Koerth, Nancy E., "Red-Cockaded Woodpecker Foraging Behavior" (2007). Faculty Publications. 440.
https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/forestry/440