GAIRDNER’S WOODPECKER
HABITS
This subspecies of our well-known downy woodpecker is one of those well-marked dark-colored races that occur in the humid Northwest coast region, ranging in the Transition Zone from southern British Columbia to Mendocino County, Calif. It is practically a small edition of the equally dark Harris’s woodpecker, which inhabits the same region. Its characters are so well marked that it was recognized and named by Audubon (1842). Ridgway (1914) describes it as “similar to D. p. turati, but color of under parts darker (often light brownish gray or drab), the white of back often tinged with brownish gray.”
D. E. Brown, in his notes from western Washington, says: “Gairdner’s woodpecker is next to the commonest woodpecker in western Washington, the northwestern flicker being the only one that outnumbers it. This, the smallest of the woodpeckers in this locality, is fond of old river beds, willow swamps, and the deciduous trees along streams. It is found here at all times of year but seems to be more in evidence in winter, probably because the leaves are off the trees where it is usually found.”
Nesting.—Mr. Brown states further that “it digs its nesting cavity usually in a dead willow stub of small size, but at times it excavates, with much labor, a cavity in a growing tree. Nests have been found as low as 3 feet from the ground, and they are seldom more than 30 feet up. Three to six eggs are laid, five being the usual number. The first week in May is the best time for fresh eggs. The incubating bird has a habit that, I think, saves its eggs many times; when the stub that contains the eggs is rapped, the sitting bird comes to the opening with its bill full of chips from the bottom of the nest; these are dropped outside, and the bird drops back into the nest, only to repeat this action when the rapping is repeated. I have seen this performance not once but many times, and I think it a regular occurrence when the eggs are well incubated.”
Dawson and Bowles (1909) write: “Gairdners place their nests at inconsiderable heights in deciduous trees, and those, if possible, among thick growths on moist ground. Both sexes assist in excavation, as in incubation. Partially decayed wood is selected and an opening made about an inch and a quarter in diameter. After driving straight in an inch or two, the passage turns down and widens two or three diameters. At a depth of a foot or so the crystal white eggs are deposited on a neat bed of fine chips. Incubation lasts twelve days and the young are hatched about the 1st of June.”
Eggs.—The eggs of Gairdner’s woodpecker resemble those of the northern downy (medianus) in every respect but average slightly smaller. The measurements of 34 eggs average 18.71 by 14.51 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 20.83 by 15.24, 20.32 by 16.0, 17.27 by 14.22, and 17.78 by 12.95 millimeters.
Food.—Johnson A. Neff (1928) had 68 stomachs available for study, mostly Gairdner’s woodpeckers from the Willamette Valley, Oreg., and states that—
the animal food items averaged 82.07 percent of the annual food, and vegetable matter, 17.93 percent. * * *
At Peyton, in August, the Gairdner Woodpeckers were observed working busily for several days removing the larvae, pupae, and adults of weevils from the stems of common mullen, Verbascum thapsus. * * *
During July, 1925, whole families of the Gairdner Woodpecker were observed in the huge cottonwoods which abound near the Willamette River, feeding on aphids and scale. They often numbered as high as ten birds in one tree, and worked from the lowest limb to the highest leaf. While paying some attention to the branches, their chief interest was in the clusters of leaves; they clambered out each small branch to the group of leaves at the tip, peered under each leaf intently, even swinging around sidewise and up-side down in their efforts. Through the binoculars it was easy to see them remove small objects and, later, stomach analysis showed that most of the objects were scale insects. * * *
These woodpeckers have yet to be observed doing any injury to a living tree; the writer has been unable to find any evidence of their doing so in this area. While they nested abundantly in the river-bottom lands in very close companionship with true sapsuckers, they were never seen to visit the flowing sap pits. * * *
Fruit was hardly touched by these birds; elderberry (Sambucus) and Madrona (Arbutus) were the only kinds found, averaging only 0.46 percent of the diet. * * *
The Gairdner, Willow, and Batchelder Woodpeckers in the orchard are worth their weight in gold to the fruit grower. They should be strictly protected, and every known means of attraction should be used in the attempt to persuade them to remain about the ranches.
Winter.—Anderson and Grinnell (1903) say that, in the Siskiyou Mountains, Calif., “the Gairdner woodpecker is usually to be found in company with the flocks of mountain chickadees which frequent the black oak groves all winter. The oaks are their favorite working places, but they are also to be seen among the pines and spruces. Six specimens brought home are all quite near gairdneri. The smokiness of the lower surface is not so intense as in skins from western Oregon, but the size, especially of the feet, is decidedly that of the northwest coast form.”