Pine sap delicious
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Pine sap tasty ( Sphyrapicus thyroideus ) |
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| Sphyrapicus thyroideus | ||||||||||||
| ( Cassin , 1852) |
The pine sap lickers ( Sphyrapicus thyroideus ) is a North American woodpecker about the size of the species of the sap lickers ( Sphyrapicus ) within the subfamily of the real woodpeckers (Picinae). The pine sap tasty is the largest species of this genus. The fragmented distribution area mainly includes montane regions in western North America from British Columbia south to southern California and central Arizona and western New Mexico . Like all other sap tidies, the pine sap tick mainly feeds on tree sap; it only prefers insects, mainly ants, during the breeding season. The northern and montane populations are migratory birds with wintering areas in the southwestern United States and northern and central Mexico . The species is not uncommon in large parts of its range. The specific epithet is probably derived from the Greek θυρεός and refers to the black breastplate of the female.
The very pronounced color dimorphism of the pine sap lick led the first observers to believe that males and females were different species.
Although the population declined sharply, especially towards the end of the last century, the IUCN does not list the species, of which two subspecies are recognized, in any endangerment category.
Appearance
With a size of up to 23 centimeters, the pine sap tasty is a medium-sized woodpecker. Its weight fluctuates between 44 and 64 grams, making it the same size as the great spotted woodpecker, which is common in Europe, much lighter than this. The color dimorphism of the pine sap is one of the most pronounced within the Picinae, but there are no conspicuous size and weight dimorphisms. Only the tail length is on average slightly larger in females than in males.
Males of the species are distinctive. The females, which are much less conspicuous in color, could be confused with females of the yellow-bellied sap litter, but are much more intensely banded in black and white on the back than these.
In the male, black and white contrasts predominate. The top is glossy black, depending on the incidence of light, metallic blue tones can appear, especially in the head and shoulder area. The rump and the tail-coverts are white. The upper wing covers are black, but have a large amount of white in their middle area, which creates a large, white wing mirror when the bird is sitting . The black wings are spotted and spotted white. The top of the tail is black, occasionally lightly dashed white in the central area. The underside is clearly banded on the flanks on a white background and drawn black like spearheads. The belly is yolk yellow, the breast black. A dark red throat patch is embedded in the throat, which is also black, but this is only clearly visible under favorable conditions. The underside of the wings is banded in dark gray-white, as is the underside of the tail; brown tones also often appear there. The head is black, clearly marked by a white stripe over the eyes that is narrow above the eye and widening slightly towards the neck, as well as by a white, roughly parallel, somewhat broader beard stripe. The pointed beak is dark gray, legs and four toes are gray, the iris is maroon.
Females are densely banded and spotted with dark brown or dark gray on the upper side on a yellow-brownish background. The rump and the upper tail-coverts are white as in the male. The underside essentially shows the coloring and drawing of the upper side. The chest and throat are black, in the throat center mostly yellow-brown and in individual cases also slightly reddish. The lower chest and upper abdomen are pale yellow. The head color is variable, but mostly brown or yellow-brown colors. Often a dark line can be seen, especially in the crown area.
Young birds are similar to adult birds of the respective sex. However, their coloration is paler and less contrasting. Young male birds have a white throat and often show small white markings on the upper side, especially in the neck area. Young females are generally browner than colored ones, the banding on the upper and lower sides is clearer; especially the chest area is banded. Young birds leave the breeding cave completely molted into juvenile plumage; moulting into the first adult plumage is completed in autumn of the year of their birth.
Vocalizations
Pine sap tastes are acoustically very noticeable in the courtship and early breeding season. The species has a number of highly characteristic vocalizations. The most common call is a screech that is somewhat reminiscent of that of an arctic tern . This is mainly expressed by the male in a territorial or sexual context, often after or between drum rolls. Corresponding calls from the female are higher and sharper. In addition, a differently modulated, quite sharp, multiple-ranked call can often be heard, which can be transcribed with Krrrrrj , for example . It is mainly used as an alarm call and is somewhat reminiscent of such small grebes . This type of drumming is very characteristic: The drum sequences consist of a very short drum roll, followed by two to four very short rolls or just single beats (example of a voice).
distribution and habitat
The main distribution areas of the species are in the Rocky Mountains and in the Cascade Mountains . The occurrences in the Rocky Mountains extend in a band of varying widths from Montana and Wyoming south to central Arizona and New Mexico. The western, the Pacific closer distribution areas begin in the north in southern British Columbia and with some distribution gaps extend south to central California. In between, east of the Rocky Mountains, but especially west and south of the Cascade Range, are some islands of distribution. The southernmost known breeding areas are in the Sierra San Pedro Mártir in Baja California .
Pine sap lovers are birds of higher altitudes. In the north of their range, their lowest breeding places are around 800 meters, in the central and southern parts mostly not below 1500 meters. The highest ones were found at over 3000 meters.
The habitats of the species are mainly coniferous forests of various compositions, which, in addition to a sufficient supply of food, must provide standing dead wood for the nesting holes. In British Columbia there are mainly mixed fir and spruce stands with a certain proportion of West American larch . Further south, mixed stands of Douglas fir , coastal pines and yellow pines are populated. Areas with individual American aspen trees appear to be particularly attractive. This deciduous tree species is the preferred cave tree and apparently has a significant influence on the population density. Pine sap lovers mainly colonize high valleys, less often ridges or slopes.
During the migration period, the woodpeckers rest in forests, trees and groves of different compositions. They spend the winter mainly in pine-oak and oak-juniper stands. In general, pine sap lovers stay in lower elevations in winter than during the breeding season, with the males mostly preferring the slightly higher areas. Only in the southernmost wintering areas are altitudes above 3000 meters, especially in oak and pine stands, sought out during the winter months.
Space requirements
Pine sap tasters are territorial, at least during the breeding season. There are only a few small studies on the size of the territories. They gave average sizes of 4–10 hectares. The settlement density is very different within the distribution area and obviously depends largely on the availability of suitable nesting trees. Few figures range from one breeding pair / 40 hectares in California and just over 4 breeding pairs / 40 hectares in Colorado .
hikes
The northern populations of this species are migratory birds , the southern are partial migrants or remain in the breeding area. Birds at higher elevations migrate to lower elevations. Pine juice delicacies of the subspecies S. t. nataliae are migratory birds to a greater extent than those of the nominate form , they also migrate further south. Females of both subspecies seem to be more willing to move and to cover greater distances than males.
Migration begins in British Columbia in early September, and most of the breeding sites are cleared by the end of the month. The homecoming starts early. In Arizona, some breeding sites are already occupied by the end of February, most of them in March. In the northwestern states, the first pine sap delicacies appear in mid-March. They probably move in small groups, or at least such groups are often observed at the time of the move, sometimes also associated with groups of the fire-headed sap litter.
The winter quarters of the migrating populations are located south of the breeding areas and / or in lower regions. In the south, the winter quarters extend as far as Baja California and the central Mexican provinces of Jalisco and Michoacán , to the east, overwinterers have occasionally been observed in southern Texas and southwestern Louisiana .
Food and subsistence
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As with all sap delicacies, the composition of the food of the pine sap delicacy varies greatly with the seasons. Outside of the breeding season, the food mainly consists of tree sap and phloem , in winter it also consists of fruits and berries. During the breeding season and in winter, when the tree sap does not flow, the species feeds primarily on insects, especially ants. These also represent the rearing feed for the young.
The preferred suppliers of juice are pine species, especially the yellow pine . In addition, Douglas firs , coastal pines , Jeffreys pines and, among the deciduous trees, aspens play a subordinate role overall, but can be the most important sap trees regionally. In these sap trees, this type of woodpecker makes flat, slightly downward sloping bowl holes in concentric circles, in which the tree sap collects. In addition, pine sap delicacies also loosen large areas of bark from the trunk, on the one hand to gain the emerging tree sap, on the other hand they also feed on the bark, which they loosen from the inside of the bark pieces. In autumn and winter, fruits and berries can be an important nutritional supplement. The fruits of the American strawberry tree are particularly popular , but juniper berries , other fruits and berries and fruit are also ingested.
During the breeding season, insects make up the main part of the diet, but the intake of tree sap is not completely stopped. This change in diet begins in the pre-breeding season and affects both sexes. Ross ants and wood ants are the main prey animals; they also form the main component of nestling food. Various other insects such as flies , beetles and aphids are also preyed on.
The species looks for its food mainly in the trunk area of living trees. The insect prey is picked from the trunk surface or picked up from cracks and crevices by poking. Occasionally the species exploits ant nests on the ground. The juice holes are also preferably located in the trunk area. Certain sap trees are often visited over the years.
Breeding biology
Like all woodpeckers, pine sap tastes mature in their first year of life. As far as is known, most of them breed for the first time at this age. There are no studies available on the duration of pair bond; a breeding season bond is likely. Pine sap tasty breed once a year. Replacement broods occur when the clutch is lost early.
Courtship and cave construction
In late winter or in the first weeks of spring, the males occupy territories that contain some suitable nesting trees, especially American quivering poplars . Preference is given to specimens that are still vital but damaged by fungal attack. The male lures the females, who appear a little later in the breeding area, by shouting, drumming and by displaying cave trees. All in all, the courtship display of the pine sap is quite short, but acoustically noticeable.
The nest boxes are re-created every year, even if old ones are occasionally reused. Unmated males also build nesting holes. By far the most preferred nesting tree is the American quivering poplar. Occasionally there are nest holes in damaged pine, spruce and other woods, and very rarely in telegraph poles. The male does the main work of cave construction; Females participate in this to very different degrees. The time it takes to build a cave varies between three and four weeks. Only small samples are available for the dimensions of the breeding caves. According to this, the average diameter of the entrance hole is 4.17 cm, the depth of the nest space 26.67 cm and its width 9.14 cm. Most of the breeding caves are between 2 and 18 m above the ground.
Clutch and brood
The oviposition begins quite uniformly in the entire distribution area in the last third of April. Fresh clutches were found by the end of May. The white, matt-glossy eggs typical of most woodpecker species in color and shape have an average size of 23.6 mm × 17.3 mm. They are placed at approximately 24 hour intervals. The clutch size is 4 - 6 (3 - 7) eggs. The breeding season varies between 12 and 14 days. At night, as with almost all woodpecker species, only the male breeds; during the day the partners alternate at approximately half-hour intervals. All developed eggs hatch within one, at most two days, so that the developmental differences between the chicks are small. Both parents feed and row the nestlings and remove the faeces . The nestling period lasts 31-32 days; sometimes longer due to food and weather conditions. The nestlings leave the brood cavity within a day or two. If many young fledge, it can take up to four days for the last one to leave the brood cavity. When flying out, the young birds are not yet fully capable of flying. Accordingly, they often have accidents in these first days or become victims of predators . They usually stay in the vicinity of the nest cavity and are provided with food for a few days by the two parents, often only by the female. The male often leaves the family unit a few days before the cubs leave the family. Overall, young pine sap lovers quickly become independent. Dismigration data is not available.
Reproduction rate and life expectancy
The few studies indicate a relatively high reproduction rate of this woodpecker species. Between 60 and 72.2% of the eggs hatch and more than 3 young fledge on average per clutch. No data are available on life expectancy.
Systematics
John Cassin described a female pine sap licker in 1852 and named it Black-breasted Woodpecker ( Picus thyroideus ). In 1857 John Strong Newberry discovered a supposedly new species (but in fact the male pine sap liqueur) and named it Williamson's Woodpecker ( Picus williamsonii ). Both woodpeckers were placed in species rank in this genus after the genus Sphyrapicus was established in 1858. It was not until 1873 that Henry W. Henshaw recognized that it was the two sexes of a species and gave it the name Williamson's Sapsucker .
The pine sap licker is one of the four species in the genus Sphyrapicus , the sister genus of Melanerpes . The genus apparently split into two lines at a very early stage, one comprising the yellow-bellied sap licker ( Sphyrapicus varius ), the fire-head sap licker ( Sphyrapicus ruber ) and the red-nape sap licker ( Sphyrapicus nuchalis ) and a second with the pine sap licker as the only representative. Probably the common ancestors of the Saplecker woodpeckers of the genus Melanerpes . The pine sap licker is very similar in appearance to representatives of this genus: males, for example, the acorn woodpecker ( Melanerpes formicivorus ) or the yellow-browed woodpecker ( M. cruentatus ), females especially the gilaspecht ( M. uropygialis ). Hybridizations with other types of sap lickers seem to be very rare, two hybrids with the red-naped sap lickers ( Sphyrapicus nuchalis ), one male and one female, have been described.
Two subspecies are currently recognized, but they only differ in terms of the width and length of the beak. Woodpeckers of the nominate form ( S. t. Thyroideus ) have slightly longer and wider beaks than those of the more easterly occurring subspecies ( S. t. Nataliae ).
- Sphyrapicus thyroideus thyroideus ( Cassin , 1852) : Breeds in the western part of the range near the Pacific. Most birds of the nominate form are resident or short-range migrants.
- Sphyrapicus thyroideus nataliae ( Malherbe , 1854) : The distribution area of this subspecies lies to the east and is largely separated from that of the nominate form. In addition to year-round resident populations, there are also many short-distance migrants, some of them long-distance migrants, with wintering areas south to Jalisco and Michoacán.
Persistence and Threat
The range of the species is with 649,000 km² by far the smallest of all four types of juice lickers. The estimated total population of 300,000 adult individuals is also the smallest of the genus. According to the IUCN , however, there are currently no reasons to classify the species in a hazard level.
According to the BBS (North American Breeding Bird Survey), from 1984 to 1993 there were in some cases significant declines in the entire range within the USA, the reasons for which are suspected to be primarily in modern forest management and in measures to contain forest fires. However, this information was based on very small, random checks. Overall, the pine sap licker seems to be a relatively common species of woodpecker in its entire range.
Individual evidence
- ↑ James A. Jobling: The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. Helm, London 2010, ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4 , p. 385.
- ↑ Dobbs et al. (1997) Population status
- ↑ data sheet BirdLife international pdf engl.
- ↑ Winkler-HBW (2002) p. 309 - description of figures
- ↑ Dobbs et al . (1997) Measurements
- ↑ Winkler et al . (1995) p. 224.
- ↑ Dobbs et al . (1997) Moult
- ↑ Chris Parrish: XC14406 · Pine sap delicious · Sphyrapicus thyroideus . xeno-canto.org. June 29, 2007. Retrieved June 9, 2019.
- ↑ Dobbs et al. (1997) Distribution
- ↑ Dobbs et al . (1997) Breeding Range
- ↑ Winkler et al . (1995) p. 224.
- ↑ Winkler et al . (1995) p. 224.
- ↑ Dobbs et al. (1997) Territoriality
- ↑ Dobbs et al . (1997) Breeding Range
- ↑ Dobbs et al . (1997) Territoriality
- ↑ Dobbs et al . (1997) Migration
- ↑ Dobbs et al. (1997) Winter Range
- ↑ Dobbs et al . (1997) Food Habits
- ↑ Dobbs et al . (1997) Breeding
- ↑ Dobbs et al . (1997) Breeding
- ↑ Dobbs et al . (1997) Demography and Populations
- ↑ Dobbs et al . (1997) Systematics
- ↑ data sheet BirdLife international pdf engl.
- ↑ Dobbs et al . (1997) Population Status
- ↑ Dobbs et al . (1997) Population Status / Numbers
literature
- Robert C. Dobbs, Thomas E. Martin, Courtney J. Conway: Williamson's Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus thyroideus). In: A. Poole (Ed.): The Birds of North America Online. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca 1997.
- Hans Winkler , David A. Christie, David Nurney: Woodpeckers. A Guide to the Woodpeckers, Piculets, and Wrynecks of the World. Pica Press, Robertsbridge 1995, ISBN 0-395-72043-5 , pp. 68-69 and 224-225.
- Hans Winkler: Family Picidae (Woodpeckers). In: Josep del Hoyo , Andrew Elliott, Jordi Sargatal, José Cabot et al. (Ed.): Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 7: Jacamars to Woodpeckers. Lynx Ediciones, Barcelona 2002, ISBN 84-87334-37-7 , pp. 274-419 and 452-453.
Web links
- Sphyrapicus thyroideus onthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species .
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Sphyrapicus thyroideus in the Internet Bird Collection