Red-headed woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 5
Habitat
Habitat requirements
General
The Red-headed Woodpecker occurs in open deciduous forests, particularly those dominated by oak and beech (Reller 1972), flood plain forests, grasslands, forest edges, orchards, pastures along rivers and roads, urban parks, golf courses, cemeteries, beaver ponds and timber stands that have been treated with herbicides (Short 1982; Godfrey 1986; Smith et al. 2000). It also occurs in recent burns and cutovers (Godfrey 1986). The open areas where this species breeds usually contain a high density of dead trees that can be used for nesting and perching. In agricultural forestry areas, it prefers forests with shrub cover grazed by livestock and with a high snag density (Smith et al. 2000; Harris et al. 2002).
Migration habitat
Little information is available on the Red-headed Woodpecker’s habitat during migration (Smith et al. 2000). However, the species has been reported to make extensive use of shelterbelts during its spring migration on the Great Plains (Martin 1960 in Smith et al. 2000) and is also found in fruit-tree orchards and urban areas. This species makes more use of forest edges in the fall (Twomey 1945 in Smith et al. 2000). In Ontario, it uses wooded areas and scrubby thickets, as well as the shorelines of some of the Great Lakes (Page 1996). In Manitoba, the Red-headed Woodpecker is generally found in open deciduous woodland with numerous dead or sick trees, as well as in urban parks (Manitoba Avian Research Committee 2003).
Winter habitat
In the northern part of its wintering range, the Red-headed Woodpecker occurs mainly in open, mature woodlands, such as oak stands, oak-hickory stands, maple stands, ash stands and beechwoods (Smith et al. 2000). The presence of this species in these various stands is correlated with the abundance of acorns and beechnuts (Smith et al. 2000). In winter, unlike in other seasons, the Red-headed Woodpecker makes more use of the inner parts of the forest and is less abundant along its edges (DeGraaf et al. 1980). In most Canadian provinces and in the northeastern states, wintering records of this species mainly involve individuals at feeding stations in areas consisting mostly of oak forest or farmland (Cyr and Larivée 1995; Page 1996). In southern states, such as Florida, the species usually prefers pine stands and mixed pine-oak stands, but also makes use of flooded forests, which have a high density of snags (Lochmiller 1979 in Smith et al. 2000).
Habitat trends
Red-headed Woodpecker habitat declined with the massive deforestation of the mature hardwood forests (Page 1996; Smith et al. 2000; Manitoba Avian Research Committee 2003). The main cause of habitat loss is the decline in dead trees and branches in urban and agricultural areas. In rural areas, the disappearance of potential nesting sites was also due to firewood cutting, clear-cutting, intensive farming, the loss of riparian forests, and chanelling of rivers (Smith et al. 2000). Other factors that have contributed to the reduction in Red-headed Woodpecker habitat in North America include reforestation of a large area of farmland in the eastern United States, which results in young forests, the loss of small orchards, forest fire suppression, the disappearance of the American chestnut (Castanea dentata) in many U.S. states, and intensive farming practices involving the removal of hedgerows and the use of large monoculture fields (Smith et al. 2000). In Manitoba, the recent disappearance of this species from many city parks would appear to be due partly to the systematic removal of dead trees and partly to natural falling of these trees and grazing in riparian areas (Page 1996; Manitoba Avian Research Committee 2003). No quantitative studies have been conducted on habitat trends for Ontario or Quebec, but it is reasonable to believe that the known causes of habitat decline elsewhere in North America apply to these provinces.
On wintering sites, habitat also appears to be declining due to the significant reduction (i.e., over 60% since the start of the 20th century) of large expanses of forest in the southeastern United States (NatureServe 2006). In addition, fungal diseases, such as beech bark disease complex (caused by Cryptococcus fagisuga Lind. and Nectria coccinea var. faginata Lohman, Watson, and Ayers), could also have contributed substantially to the decline in Red-headed Woodpecker habitat in eastern North America (Houston and O’Brien 1998).
Habitat protection/ownership
In Canada, most habitat suitable for the Red-headed Woodpecker is privately owned, although there is significant habitat in publicly owned areas such as city parks and golf courses. The protected public lands where the Red-headed Woodpecker is regularly found include certain national parks and national historic sites in Manitoba and Ontario, such as Bruce Peninsula National Park, Navy Island National Historic Site, Point Pelee National Park, Riding Mountain National Park, and the Trent-Severn Waterway. The species is also probably present in Fathom Five National Marine Park and St. Lawrence Islands National Park (P. Achuff pers. comm. 2005). Certain provincial parks in Manitoba and Ontario are also of major importance in the conservation of Red-headed Woodpecker populations. For example, in Ontario, the Rondeau Important Bird Area (IBA) was created in part because of the large population of this species in Rondeau Provincial Park (Cheskey and Wilson 2001). Although the Important Bird Areas of Canada represent only a small proportion of the protected lands in Canada, they do protect a large portion of the Red-headed Woodpecker’s breeding range, particularly in Ontario and Manitoba (IBA Canada 2004). For example, approximately 100 breeding pairs have been reported in the Kinosota-Leifur Shoreline Important Bird Area in Manitoba (Manitoba Avian Research Committee 2003).
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