WHITE-BREASTED WOODPECKER
HABITS
Northward and eastward from the range of the Chihuahua woodpecker (icastus) and southward from the range of the Rocky Mountain hairy woodpecker (monticola) lies the range of this white-breasted race of the hairy woodpecker, extending from southern Utah, through Arizona and New Mexico, into central western Texas. It is evidently a smaller edition of monticola, for Dr. Harry C. Oberholser (1911a), in describing and naming it, says that it is “much like Dryobates villosus monticola, but decidedly smaller; wing coverts practically always without white spots.”
Dr. Edgar A. Mearns (1890b) says of its haunts in the mountains of northern Arizona:
Breeds commonly throughout the pine belt, often ascending higher in summer, then preferring aspens to the fir and spruce woods of higher altitudes. It very rarely descends to the cottonwoods of the Verde Valley to fraternize with its smaller relative, Baird’s woodpecker, and only when the mountain timber is icy or the weather uncommonly fierce; then it is usually accompanied by flocks of Cassin’s Purple Finches, Red-backed Juncos, and its boon companions, the Slender-billed Nuthatches. About the middle of June the young leave their nests, and soon after make a partial migration downward towards the lower border of the pine belt, in common with many other birds that breed at high levels.
Nesting.—I can find no references to the nesting habits or eggs of this subspecies, which probably do not differ materially from those of the Chihuahua woodpecker, except that J. S. Ligon told Mrs. Florence M. Bailey (1928) that it nests “generally in small trees in canyon beds.”
Eggs.—The eggs of this subspecies are apparently similar to those of other hairy woodpeckers. They seem to be scarce in collections; I have been able to locate only two sets of eggs, one set of four and one set of three. These seven eggs show average measurements of 24.66 by 17.91 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 25.3 by 18.2, 24.6 by 18.6, 24.2 by 18.2, and 24.6 by 17.2 millimeters.
Food.—Mrs. Bailey (1928) quotes Maj. E. A. Goldman as follows:
One afternoon I found one pecking at a hole near the ground in the trunk of an oak. It worked for a second or two and then paused long enough to look in my direction, beginning work again immediately. This was repeated several times and it seemed disinclined to leave the spot, allowing me to approach to within ten feet, when, instead of flying off, it slid around to the opposite side of the trunk while I examined the place and found the hole inhabited by numerous small black beetles which were running excitedly about. I moved off a short distance and watched the Woodpecker return to the hole which seemed to be a rich find.
She goes on to say:
On Chloride Creek in May, 1916, when Mr. Ligon was standing by a half dead box elder containing a woodpecker nest, the mother came with her bill for half its length jammed full of wood ants for the squawking young inside the hole. One that Mr. Kellogg took at Silver City had recently eaten two woodboring larvae, six caterpillars, and at least ten moth pupae, besides other insects and mast.