Cockade woodpecker

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Cockade woodpecker
Cockade Woodpecker (Leuconotopicus borealis)

Cockade Woodpecker ( Leuconotopicus borealis )

Systematics
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Woodpecker birds (Piciformes)
Family : Woodpeckers (Picidae)
Subfamily : Real woodpeckers (Picinae)
Genre : Leuconotopicus
Type : Cockade woodpecker
Scientific name
Leuconotopicus borealis
Vieillot , 1809

The cockade woodpecker ( Leuconotopicus borealis , syn .: Picoides borealis ) is a species of the genus Leuconotopicus within the subfamily of the real woodpeckers . The North American woodpecker reaches a body length of about 20 to 22 centimeters and a wingspan of about 35 centimeters. Its back is strikingly striped in black and white. The species was assigned to the genus Picoides for a long time before genetic studies revealed the closer relationship with some other North American woodpecker species, which were therefore grouped together in the genus Leuconotopicus .

features

Header details

In addition to the striped back plumage, the black hood, which stretches from the forehead to the neck and merges into the black shoulder plumage, is particularly striking. The area above the white throat is also black, so that the white cheeks are bordered all around by black plumage. The male also has a red spot on the temple, which is only clearly visible during the breeding period and the formation of territories. This spot, which as Kokarde (Engl. Cockard ) is called, is the eponymous feature of the birds.

Way of life

nutrition

The cockade woodpecker feeds mainly on ants , cockroaches , centipedes , spiders and insects living in wood as well as their larvae. He eats berries and other fruits less often.

Reproduction and development

The cockade woodpecker is a territorial, but at the same time cooperatively brooding woodpecker. It is a resident bird and can be monogamous for several years . The breeding season lasts from April to June. The female lays three to four eggs in the brood cavity made by the male , these are incubated by both partners and other group members (helpers) for 10 to 12 days. After hatching, the nestlings remain in the brood cavity for about 26 days. Even after they have fledged, the young often stay with the adult birds and form family groups of up to nine animals with them, but mostly only three to four birds. Within this group there is only ever one breeding pair and usually only one brood per year. The other group members, mostly only male offspring, help with the breeding and rearing of the young birds. The young female birds, on the other hand, leave the family within the first year and join groups of male animals.

distribution

The now heavily fragmented area of ​​distribution of the cockade woodpecker

The original distribution area of ​​the cockade woodpecker reached in the southeastern United States from Florida north to New Jersey and Maryland , west to Texas and Oklahoma and inland to Missouri , Kentucky and Tennessee. Today it is believed that around 5,000 family groups with around 12,500 individual animals still live in the area from Florida to Virginia , Texas and Oklahoma. This corresponds to about one percent of the original population , in New Jersey, Maryland, Tennessee and Missouri the species is considered extinct.

Habitats

The cockade woodpecker lives in old pine forests, with populations of swamp pine ( Pinus palustris ) being preferred. In contrast to many other species of woodpecker, which make their burrows in rotting and damaged wood (often dead wood ), cockade woodpeckers make their burrows in trees that are alive, but often damaged by red rot . The construction of the breeding cave usually takes one to three years.

The aggregation of trees with breeding caves is called a cluster and normally includes one to 20 and more breeding trees on one to 25 hectares (average 4 hectares). Due to the intensive use, there is an increased flow of resin in the trees, which is intensified by the birds in order to prevent predators such as various species of snakes from climbing the trees. The size of the territory of a family group is usually around 55 to 80 hectares, but it can also be only 25 or 240 hectares. The size depends on the nature of the habitat and the population density.

Within the southern pine forests, the cockade woodpecker plays a central role in the ecosystem . Its breeding caves are used as breeding and habitat by a number of other birds and mammals, including above all titmouse and warbler as well as other species of woodpecker such as the downy woodpecker ( Picoides pubescens ), the hairy woodpecker ( Leuconotopicus villosus ) and the Carolina woodpecker ( Melanerpes carolinus ). Even larger woodpeckers inhabit the caves and zoom in so far that later owls as the Eastern Screech Owl ( Otus asio ) or wood ducks ( Aix sponsa ) and raccoons can nest in them. Even bees , various amphibians and reptiles and flying squirrel lodge themselves in the caves.

swell

Web links

Commons : Leuconotopicus borealis  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Jérôme Fuchs and Jean-Marc Pons: A new classification of the Pied Woodpeckers assemblage (Dendropicini, Picidae) based on a comprehensive multi-locus phylogeny . In: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 88 (2015) 28-37