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Photo by Glenn Bartley

Melanerpes formicivorus

[edit] Identification

The male is black with a red crown, bright yellow throat, and white and black spotted chest and belly. The crown and throat feathers stand out and look beautiful in the sunlight.

The female lacks the yellow throat and has a smaller red patch on the back of the head. 8-9" in length.

[edit] Distribution

Western United States, Mexico, and northern Central America. Subspecies flavigula is a common bird in the Western Andes of Colombia.

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Subspecies^[1]

Female
Photo by bobsofpa
Madera Canyon, Arizona, USA, May 2005

• M. f. bairdi:

• North-western Oregon to northern Baja California

• M. f. angustifrons:

• Cape region of southern Baja California

• M. f. formicivorus (aculeatus):

• Arizona, New Mexico and western Texas to south-eastern Mexico (west of Chiapas)

• M. f. albeolus:

• Southern Mexico (e Chiapas) to north-eastern Guatemala and Belize

• M. f. lineatus:

• Southern Mexico (Chiapas) to Guatemala and northern Nicaragua

• M. f. striatipectus:

• Nicaragua to western Panama

• M. f. flavigula:

• Andes of Colombia

[edit] Habitat

Acorn Woodpecker storage tree
Photo by Stanley Jones
Santa Catalina Natural Area northeast of Tucson, Pima County, Arizona, USA, July 1981

Dry pine and oak woods. The Colombian subspecies lives in the subtropical zone, at 1650 meters above sea level.

[edit] Behaviour

Like all woodpeckers, these birds use their tails to steady themselves when clinging to a tree.

[edit] Diet

They live in colonies and store acorns in holes drilled by generations of woodpeckers. Acorn Woodpeckers have the unique habit of pecking individual holes into both dead and live pine and oak trees and then placing acorns within the holes. The acorns, however, are only a reserve food source (i.e. for winter). (The Colombian subspecies has been observed to peck small holes in living trees and put nothing inside, a puzzling behavior given the year-round availability of food in its range.) The bird's main diet consists of fruits and insects.

[edit] Breeding

These birds are highly social and live in groups of twelve or more. In this group, only a few may mate, but all take responsibility for raising the babies and creating nests. The nest is built in a tree cavity. They lay 4-5 white eggs with an 11-12 day incubation period. Fledging occurs 30-32 days after hatching.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2011. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to August 2011. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
2. bird-friends.com

[edit] External Links