IDing Woodpeckers by ear (6 Viewers)

[HH75]

Hi all,
"I dont know who is more lucky....... You in USA (with Many Wpkr species !) OR Us in Uk with only 3 different Drumming sounds to differenciate."
What about us with NONE?
Have only seen one "woodpecker" species here,Wryneck(at least 4 individuals).
Harry H

 

[Edward]

Hey Harry, don't try and hog all the sympathy with your sob story about 0 woodpeckers. North Atlantic Islands and woodpeckers don't make a good mix. However, I once spent six hours walking through the southern town of Selfoss in freezing weather looking for a Great Spotted Woodpecker (an extremely rare vagrant here). We heard it briefly but we never saw it. It was first seen by a visiting Swedish birder and when he told us, his observation was taken with a huge pinch of salt but he was dead right as it turned out.

Woodpeckers are great birds but I've only seen three species, Green, Great Spotted and Lesser Spotted, OK four counting Wryneck. Need a good trip to Poland.

E

 

[HH75]

Hi Edward,
Agree that we're not the only ones deprived of woodpeckers,but it's perhaps a little more galling here,as there is plenty of suitable habitat(can't imagine any woodpecker species breeding in Iceland based on what photos I've seen of the country!).
Have seen Green,Great Spotted,Lesser Spotted,Middle Spotted,Syrian and Black on my travels.
A reintroduction of GSW may be in order here....
Harry H

P.S.Spent a day in a wood near Ashford(Co.Wicklow) in December 2001 looking for a GS Woodpecker that had been found there:saw plenty of holes in the trees,suggesting that the bird had been present for some time,but no sign of the bird!:-C

 

[Michael Frankis]

A reintroduction of GSW may be in order here....

Hi Harry,

Is there any hard evidence that GSpW used to breed in Ireland?

(from another thread, great pity there's no bird reports from 500 years ago to find out . . .)

Michael

 

[HH75]

Hi Michael,
Bones of GS Woodpecker have been found in excavations in two(?) areas,along with those of Hawfinch and Jay(latter still widespread and perhaps increasing,former at best a sporadic breeding bird).
Also,though perhaps a little anecdotal,there are convincing desciptions of the species in the literature(O'Sullivan Beare refers to them being "common" in SW Ireland,and mentions drumming,as does an old poem translated from the original Irish).
Dealt with in detail in Gordon D'Arcy's "Ireland's Lost Birds",along with such "controversial" former breeding birds as Red Kite and Goshawk(while neither had really been given credence before as having bred here,D'Arcy presents strong evidence to support his claims).
There are also species mentioned in this book that D'Arcy treats as unproven on the information available,but offers the tantalising possibility that we once supported(at least locally and/or for a short period when the climate suited them) Great Bustard,Stone Curlew,Lesser Spotted and Green Woodpeckers,Eagle Owl(?) etc.
Harry H

 

[Dave B Smith]

We have a good few here in Mexico. I've only seen 9 of them so far.

Here follows a complete country list:
Lewis's Woodpecker
Acorn Woodpecker
Black-cheeked Woodpecker
Golden-cheeked Woodpecker
Gray-breasted Woodpecker
Yucatan Woodpecker
Gila Woodpecker
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Williamson's Sapsucker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Red-naped Sapsucker
Red-breasted Sapsucker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Nuttall's Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Arizona Woodpecker
Strickland's Woodpecker
Smoky-brown Woodpecker
Golden-olive Woodpecker
Gray-crowned Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Gilded Flicker
Chestnut-colored Woodpecker
Lineated Woodpecker
Pale-billed Woodpecker
Imperial Woodpecker (probably extinct but wouldn't that be a wonderful rediscovery)

 

[Larry Lade]

Hi Trevor,

Congratulations on getting the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.

We tried for the Red-cockaded Woodpecker when we were in Florida. We found their roosting/nesting trees but did not see the birds.

For the states I still need:

Red-cockaded Woodpecker
Nuttall's Woodpecker
Red-breasted Sapsucker

I am not able to differentiate between woodpecker species by their drumming. I think it would probably be more difficult here in the states because we do have so many different species.

Larry

 

[Larry Lade]

Dave, which nine woodpeckers have you seen?

It sounds like you have "woodpecker paradise" down there!

Crispy, I was going to say if you are ever in northwest Missouri give me a call and we will go out and get you six or seven more species of woodpeckers! But with that list that Dave gave you would probably get many more if you went down south and paid him a visit!

Larry

 

[Dave B Smith]

Larry,
Oops, just eight for Mexico as follows:
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Acorn Woodpecker
Black-cheeked Woodpecker
Golden-cheeked Woodpecker
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Golden-olive Woodpecker
Lineated Woodpecker
Pale-billed Woodpecker

Then another 4 US birds:
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Red-cockaded Woodpecker

It's definitely a good place here for Woodpeckers but CC will get an even larger list if he visits both places!

 

[Larry Lade]

Sounding Board

The original qusetion refers to tapping sounds rather than drumming. While the latter differs between species according to speed and duration etc...I suspect that differences in tapping sounds are as much a result of the quality of the timber as anything else. That said, very large species will clearly tap differently from very small ones.

MV

I would agree with Malvolio that the structure upon which the bird is tapping does determine (to a large extent) the resulting sound. I once heard a very loud, resonating tapping coming from a wooded area. I went looking for a large woodpecker (perhaps a Pileated Woodpecker). Upon locating the bird I was very surprised to see it was a diminutive Downy Woodpecker. The structure of the branch upon which it was tapping just happened to make the sound very loud!

Larry

 

[dennis]

OK, you folks got the lister in me curious. Had to check my lifelist......26 woodpecker species and searching!

dennis

 

[KC Foggin]

Hi Stevie,

Here in Pennsylvania we've spotted:

Red-headed Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied sapsucker
Downy woodpecker
Hairy woodpecker
Black-backed Woodpecker(rare but I've seen one)
Northern Flicker
and Pileated Woodpecker(the big guy)

And Dennis, save for the Black-backed I've got them all here too.

 

[Grousemore]

Hi Trevor,

Congratulations on getting the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.

We tried for the Red-cockaded Woodpecker when we were in Florida. We found their roosting/nesting trees but did not see the birds.



Larry

Thanks,Larry,you've just reminded me I still need Red-Cockaded,better get searching........

 

[Larry Lade]

Dennis, as you may have read, woodpeckers are of special to me. I would be very interested in having a list of the woodpeckers you have seen. Perhaps with the "when and where". You could post it to me privately if you wish. If it is too much trouble, I will understand.
Larry

 

[crispycreme]

Crispy, I was going to say if you are ever in northwest Missouri give me a call and we will go out and get you six or seven more species of woodpeckers! But with that list that Dave gave you would probably get many more if you went down south and paid him a visit!

Well, Dave cheated a bit and listed both the Strickland's and the Arizona. Trust me Larry, we'll be heading your way in the near future to snare you as a guide to snarfing a Pileated.

 

[Larry Lade]

Come on "back, over, down, up, out" to Missouri. "We will leave a light on for you"!

In most of our outings to Pershing State Park or Swan Lake National Wildlife Refuge (near Chillicothe, Missouri) we will see Downy, Hairy, Red-bellied, Red-headed, Pileated Woodpeckers and Northern Flickers (Yellow-shafted). Every year we get one or two Northern Flickers (Red-shafted race) wandering in from the western USA. Sometimes we get the Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers also. (In Missouri we mostly just get these sapsuckers in migration). See Sibley's "Guide to Birds", page 311.

 

[Dave B Smith]

CC,
Seems to be some debate here. I actually downloaded that list from AviBase, being to lazy to type out all the Woodpeckers from my field guide, but checking in my guide by S. Howell, they are both shown as separate species with Strickland's being endemic to central Mexico.

 

[Larry Lade]

It is my understanding that "it used to be" Arizona Woodpecker. Then the name was changed to Strickland's Woodpecker. And then a couple of years ago the name was changed back to Arizona Woodpecker. It reminds me of what "they" did with the Baltimore Oriole, to Northern Oriole and back to Baltimore Oriole. Or the Green Heron, to Green-backed Heron and then back to Green Heron. "They" cannot seem to make up their mind.

Dave, did AviBase give different latin names for Arizona/Strickland's?
Larry

 

[Dave B Smith]

Larry,
Yes they did. I also just checked with the AOU and both rev 43 and 44 also show both. Following is from AOU 44:
Picoides arizonae Arizona Woodpecker
Picoides stricklandi Strickland's Woodpecker

Ah what fun keeping up with name changes, splits and "un" splits!

 

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Larry,

Here's my Woodie list, if you're interested:

Wryneck (UK, Bulgaria, Turkey)
Northern Flicker (US, Mexico)
Grey-headed Woodpecker (Bulgaria)
Green Woodpecker (UK, Bulgaria)
Pileated Woodpecker (Oregon)
Black Woodpecker (Denmark, Bulgaria, Austria)
Red-bellied Woodpecker (Texas, Missouri)
Golden-fronted Woodpecker (NE Mexico)
Gila Woodpecker (Arizona)
Acorn Woodpecker (NE Mexico, Calif.)
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Texas)
Great Spot Woodpecker (UK, Denmark, Bulgaria, Canary Is., etc.)
Syrian Woodpecker (Bulgaria, Turkey)
Middle Spot Woodpecker (Bulgaria, Turkey)
Lesser Spot Woodpecker (UK, Bulgaria, Turkey)
Ladder-backed Woodpecker (NE Mexico, Texas)
Downy Woodpecker (Missouri, etc)
Hairy Woodpecker (Missouri, etc)

18 total; 8 European, 10 American. Both abundance and diversity of woodpeckers in America is markedly higher than in Europe.

Michael