Lewis's woodpecker

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Lewis's woodpecker
Lewis's Woodpecker.jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Piciformes
Family: Picidae
Genus: Melanerpes
Species:
M. lewis
Binomial name
Melanerpes lewis
(G. R. Gray, 1849)
Melanerpes lewis map.svg

Lewis's woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis) is a large North American species of woodpecker which ornithologist Alexander Wilson named after Meriwether Lewis, one of the explorers who surveyed the areas bought by the United States of America as part of the Louisiana Purchase and first described this species of bird.

Contents

Taxonomy

Lewis's woodpecker was described and illustrated in 1811 by the American ornithologist Alexander Wilson in his American Ornithology; or, the Natural History of the Birds of the United States. Wilson based his description on some bird skins that had been collected on an expedition across the western portion of the United States led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in 1803–1806. Wilson coined the English name "Lewis's woodpecker" and the binomial name Picus torquatus. [2] Unfortunately, the specific epithet was preoccupied by the ringed woodpecker, Celeus torquatus (Boddaert, 1783) and so in 1849 the English zoologist George Robert Gray coined a new name Picus lewis. [3] The type locality is Montana. [4] Lewis's woodpecker is now placed in the genus Melanerpes that was erected by the English ornithologist William John Swainson in 1832. [5] [6] The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised. [6]

Description

One of the largest species of American woodpeckers, Lewis's woodpecker can measure up to 10–11 inches (25–28 cm) in length. It is mainly reddish-breasted, blackish-green in color with a black rump. It has a gray collar and upper breast, with a pinkish belly, and a red face. The wings are much broader than those of other woodpeckers, and it flies at a much more sluggish pace with slow, but even flaps similar to those of a crow. Its calls have a harsh sound relative to other woodpeckers', and it may use a repertoire of several different phrases. [7] They are one of the three largest Melanerpes woodpeckers, being similar in size to the white woodpecker and the Jamaican woodpecker. [8]

Measurements: [9]

Range and habitat

Lewis's woodpecker is locally common, dwelling mostly in open pine woodlands, and other areas with scattered trees and snags. Unlike other American woodpeckers, it enjoys sitting in the open as opposed to sitting in heavy tree cover. It ranges mostly in the western to central United States, but can winter as far south as the US border with Mexico and summer as far north as Canada. It has been seen in five Midwestern states: South Dakota, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.

Feeding

Lewis's woodpecker engages in some rather un-woodpecker-like behavior in its gregarious feeding habits. Although it does forage for insects by boring into trees with its chisel-like bill, the bird also catches insects in the air during flight (typical insect hawking), a habit that only a few other woodpeckers, such as the acorn woodpecker, the red-headed woodpecker and the northern flicker, engage in. Lewis's woodpecker also feeds on berries and nuts, and will even shell and store nuts in cracks and holes in wood to store until winter. It will also feed at flat, open bird feeders where it might act aggressively toward other birds.

Breeding

Lewis's woodpecker nests in a cavity excavated from a dead tree branch. The nest is constructed mainly by the male. The female will lay between 5 and 9 eggs, which are plain white in coloration. Both sexes incubate—the female during the day and the male at night. Incubation lasts approximately 12 days, after which the young will hatch. The young leave the nest four to five weeks after hatching.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Picinae</span> Subfamily of birds

Picinae containing the true woodpeckers is one of four subfamilies that make up the woodpecker family Picidae. True woodpeckers are found over much of the world, but do not occur in Madagascar or Australasia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodpecker</span> Family of birds (Picidae)

Woodpeckers are part of the bird family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks, and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar, and the extreme polar regions. Most species live in forests or woodland habitats, although a few species are known that live in treeless areas, such as rocky hillsides and deserts, and the Gila woodpecker specialises in exploiting cacti.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western bluebird</span> Species of bird

The western bluebird is a small North American thrush.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pileated woodpecker</span> Species of bird

The pileated woodpecker is a large, mostly black woodpecker native to North America. An insectivore, it inhabits deciduous forests in eastern North America, the Great Lakes, the boreal forests of Canada, and parts of the Pacific Coast. It is the largest confirmed extant woodpecker species in North America, with the possible exception of the ivory-billed woodpecker, which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed be reclassified as extinct. It is also the third largest species of woodpecker in the world, after the great slaty woodpecker and the black woodpecker. "Pileated" refers to the bird's prominent red crest, from the Latin pileatus meaning "capped".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-headed woodpecker</span> Species of bird

The red-headed woodpecker is a mid-sized woodpecker found in temperate North America. Its breeding habitat is open country across southern Canada and the east-central United States. It is rated as least concern on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)'s Red List of Endangered species, having been down-listed from near threatened in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hairy woodpecker</span> Species of bird

The hairy woodpecker is a medium-sized woodpecker that is found over a large area of North America. It is approximately 250 mm (9.8 in) in length with a 380 mm (15 in) wingspan. With an estimated population in 2020 of almost nine million individuals, the hairy woodpecker is listed by the IUCN as a species of least concern. Some nomenclature authorities, such as the eBird/Clements checklist, place this species in the genus Dryobates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Downy woodpecker</span> Species of woodpecker

The downy woodpecker is a species of woodpecker, the smallest in North America. Length ranges from 14 to 18 cm. Downy woodpeckers primarily live in forested areas throughout the United States and Canada, with the exception of deserts in the southwest and the northern tundra. The bird nests in tree cavities and feeds primarily on insects, although it supplements its diet with seeds and berries. Downy woodpeckers are native predators of the European corn borer, contributing to controlling this invasive species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black-backed woodpecker</span> Species of bird

The black-backed woodpecker, also known as the Arctic three-toed woodpecker, is a medium-sized woodpecker inhabiting the forests of North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acorn woodpecker</span> Species of bird

The acorn woodpecker is a medium-sized woodpecker, 21 cm (8.3 in) long, with an average weight of 85 g (3.0 oz).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-bellied woodpecker</span> Species of bird

The red-bellied woodpecker is a medium-sized woodpecker of the family Picidae. It breeds mainly in the eastern United States, ranging as far south as Florida and as far north as Canada. Though it has a vivid orange-red crown and nape it is not to be confused with the red-headed woodpecker, a separate species of woodpecker in the same genus with an entirely red head and neck that sports a solid black back and white belly. The red-bellied earns its name from the pale reddish blush of its lower underside.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gray-crowned rosy finch</span> Species of bird

The gray-crowned rosy finch or gray-crowned rosy-finch is a species of passerine bird in the family Fringillidae native to Alaska, western Canada, and the north-western United States. Due to its remote and rocky alpine habitat it is rarely seen. There are currently six recognized subspecies. It is one of four species of rosy finches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gila woodpecker</span> Species of bird

The Gila woodpecker is a medium-sized woodpecker of the desert regions of the southwestern United States and western Mexico. In the U.S., they range through southeastern California, southern Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Golden-fronted woodpecker</span> Species of bird

The golden-fronted woodpecker is a species of bird in subfamily Picinae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is found in the southern United States, Mexico and parts of Central America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-crowned woodpecker</span> Species of bird

The red-crowned woodpecker is a species of bird in subfamily Picinae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is found in Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and Tobago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lineated woodpecker</span> Species of bird

The lineated woodpecker is a very large woodpecker which is a resident breeding bird from southern Mexico to northern Argentina and on Trinidad in the Caribbean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White woodpecker</span> Species of bird

The white woodpecker is a South American species of woodpecker native to the wooded grasslands of Suriname, French Guiana, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. It is a bright white bird with black wings and a distinctive small bright yellow eye patch. The IUCN has rated it as a "least-concern species".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black-cheeked woodpecker</span> Species of bird

The black-cheeked woodpecker is a species of bird in subfamily Picinae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is found from Mexico south to Ecuador.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Golden-cheeked woodpecker</span> Species of bird

The golden-cheeked woodpecker is a species of bird in subfamily Picinae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is endemic to Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamaican woodpecker</span> Species of bird

The Jamaican woodpecker is a species of bird in subfamily Picinae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is endemic to Jamaica.

<i>Celeus</i> (bird) Genus of birds

Celeus is a genus of bird in the woodpecker family, Picidae, found in tropical and subtropical forests and woodlands of Central and South America. The genus contains 13 extant species. One, Kaempfer's woodpecker, was believed to be extinct until a specimen was caught in 2006.

References

  1. BirdLife International (2016). "Melanerpes lewis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2016: e.T22680801A92879169. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22680801A92879169.en . Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  2. Wilson, Alexander (1811). American Ornithology; or, the Natural History of the Birds of the United States: Illustrated with Plates Engraved and Colored from Original drawings taken from Nature. Vol. 3. Philadelphia: Bradford and Inskeep. p. 31, Plate 20 fig. 3.
  3. Gray, George Robert (1849). The genera of birds : comprising their generic characters, a notice of the habits of each genus, and an extensive list of species referred to their several genera. Vol. 3. London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans. Appendix p. 22. "M. torquatus Add: Picus Lewis Drap." This is a revision to p. 444. In the copy scanned for the BHL the pages are not numbered.
  4. Peters, James Lee, ed. (1948). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 6. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 157.
  5. Swainson, William John (1831). Richardson, John (ed.). Fauna boreali-americana, or, The zoology of the northern parts of British America : containing descriptions of the objects of natural history collected on the late northern land expeditions under command of Captain Sir John Franklin, R.N.: Part 2, The Birds. p. 316. The title page gives the date as 1831 but the volume was not actually published until the following year.
  6. 1 2 Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (2020). "Woodpeckers". IOC World Bird List Version 10.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  7. "Lewis's Woodpecker Sounds, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology".
  8. Dunning, John B. Jr., ed. (2008). CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses (2nd ed.). CRC Press. ISBN   978-1-4200-6444-5.
  9. "Lewis's Woodpecker Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology". www.allaboutbirds.org. Retrieved 2020-09-26.