On the Wing #55: Cabins for Carpenters

Last week I spent some time in the Mass Audubon gift shop located at Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary in Lincoln and I happened upon something that took me by surprise. Nestled among the bluebird and chickadee nest boxes was something that I had never thought could have existed.

I looked along the shelves to find a Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) nest box. This isn't something you see everyday. Additionally, yesterday, I spent part of Valentine's Day with my girlfriend. We browsed the shelves and merchandise of  Russel's Garden Center in Wayland. I saw another example of woodpecker home decor sitting near the plastic recycled bird houses that all "true" environmentalists would buy (either because they lack the requisite carpentry experience or because they feel like they're making a difference).
Pardon the crabby response, I just find it annoying that instead of leaving a dead or dying tree standing, people think that buying a recycled nest box ought to do the trick.

The "Three Woodpecker House" as advertised can accommodate Red-bellied (Melanerpes carolinus), Red-headed (M. erythrocephalus), and Hairy Woodpeckers (P. villosus).

This implies one of two things. Either the economy is so bad that woodpeckers now have to get a subprime mortgage in order to have a home to live in (due primarily to limited space and an inadequate supply of trees), or it is simply just that. There are not enough trees, specifically dead and dying trees, that are left standing these days to warrant appropriate nesting and foraging habitat than they previously noted.

A quick visit to the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center webpage concerning their Breeding Bird Survey Summary will yield two different lists of birds. One tracks trends in population from 1966-2010 (This can be found here), while the other tracks trends in relative abundance from 1966-2010 (This can be found here).

A quick overview of both sites information on woodpeckers reveals that of the species these nestboxes are marketed towards (Downy, Hairy, Red-bellied, and Red-headed) have either stabilize or declined as forests become more fragmented and those that remain are typically of similar age and size.

Downies prefer open forests and are frequent and popular visitors to backyard feeders. They can sometimes be seen tapping at the bases of cattails at GMNWR in the late fall and winter. They are generally more abundant in the East with concentrations in southern New England, central Maryland, most of North Carolina, and the northern half of Florida. In the same area, the abundance trend indicates that Downies aren't doing well in the Southeast, but are increasing in the Rockies, Northeast, and in the Florida Keys.

Hairies differ from Downies requiring thicker, more mature forest with a preference for mixed deciduous forests. As such they are more common in the forested north than in the south, but are harder to find than the Downies. They tend to concentrate along the Canadian border, northern New England, and northern California.

Red-bellied are far more common than most people realize. In the past few years, they have been appearing in the swampy lowlands along the Sudbury River Valley where they have become fairly common. When I take trips to GMNWR, I frequently hear one or two along the nearby Concord River near on the main walking trails. The population trends agree with this assessment. From southern New England across the Ohio River Valley along the Appalachians and down to Missouri, they are on the rise. Only in Florida and parts of the Carolinas have they been declining slightly. Despite this trend, their main stronghold is still the Southeast, but this might change in the future.

Finally, the Red-headed is not only a declining bird, but would also be a great addition to my life and year lists. Found in orchards and open parkland with a few tall trees for nesting and caching acorns, they have all but disappeared from New England and appear to be retreating west and south. They are listed as near threatened and seem to be declining due to habitat loss and fragmentation. The trend maps further confirm this worrying development. The abundance map shows the Midwest as the birds primary stronghold as well as a small Floridian population in the north of the state. Their population trend map leaves less to be desired however. Much of the map is red, showing that even in their supposed stronghold, they have actually experienced most of their declines in the Midwest. The only upticks in population can be found in Maryland and parts of Alabama and Mississippi.

So I suppose they do need a little help. But I take these boxes as a sign of a further changing world. Hopefully we can adapt our living structures to be able to build upon the ones we already have and form vibrant hives out of our current cities. Maybe this way we can stop our advance into the wilds and "civilize" them. I can only hope we do.