Lewis's woodpecker | |
---|---|
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Piciformes |
Family: | Picidae |
Genus: | Melanerpes |
Species: | M. lewis |
Binomial name | |
Melanerpes lewis (G. R. Gray, 1849) | |
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.
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 Swainson in 1832. [5] [6] The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised. [6]
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. [7] Its calls have a harsh sound relative to other woodpeckers', and it may use a repertoire of several different phrases. [8] They are one of the three largest Melanerpes woodpeckers in the world, being similar in size to the white woodpecker and the Jamaican woodpecker. [9]
Measurements: [10]
Lewis's woodpecker is locally common to the northwestern United States, dwelling mostly in open pine woodlands, and other areas with scattered trees and snags. [11] Unlike other American woodpeckers, it enjoys sitting in the open as opposed to sitting in heavy tree cover. The migration patterns of the Lewis's Woodpecker are unclear due to their nomadic lifestyle and feeding habits. [12] It ranges mostly in the western to central United States, but in the winter it can be found as far south as Southern California and the US border with Mexico. In the summer it can be found as far north as Canada. It has been seen in five Midwestern states: South Dakota, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. As wells as California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Colorado, and Utah. [13]
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. [14]
Lewis's woodpecker nests in a cavity excavated from a dead tree branch. The Lewis's woodpecker, however, will not excavate its own cavity, but instead nest in a pre-existing cavity in a tree. The nest are usually made around 1 to 52 meters high from the ground. [15] The female will lay between 5 and 9 eggs, which are plain white in coloration. Both mates incubate—the female during the day and the male at night. Incubation lasts approximately 12 days, after which the young will hatch. Both parents take turns equally caring for their young. After the young hatch the parents give them insects "directly from the beak". [16] The young leave the nest four to five weeks after hatching. [17] If breeding was successful, the two lifelong mates may return to the same nest the following year. [18]
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.
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.
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 extant 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".
The northern flicker or common flicker is a medium-sized bird of the woodpecker family. It is native to most of North America, parts of Central America, Cuba, and the Cayman Islands, and is one of the few woodpecker species that migrate. Over 100 common names for the northern flicker are known, including yellowhammer, clape, gaffer woodpecker, harry-wicket, heigh-ho, wake-up, walk-up, wick-up, yarrup, and gawker bird. Many of these names derive from attempts to imitate some of its calls. It is the state bird of Alabama.
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.
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. The downy woodpecker is very similar in appearance to the hairy woodpecker, although they are not closely related.
The black-backed woodpecker, also known as the Arctic three-toed woodpecker, is a medium-sized woodpecker inhabiting the forests of North America.
The acorn woodpecker is a medium-sized woodpecker with a length of around 20 cm (8 in), and an average weight of 85 g (3.0 oz). It is found across Central America, as well as North into the western United States and South into parts of Colombia.
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 tint on its lower underside.
The red-breasted sapsucker is a medium-sized woodpecker of the forests of the west coast of North America.
The red-naped sapsucker is a medium-sized North American woodpecker. Long thought to be a subspecies of the yellow-bellied sapsucker, it is now known to be a distinct species.
The western wood pewee is a small tyrant flycatcher. Adults are gray-olive on the upperparts with light underparts, washed with olive on the breast. They have two wing bars and a dark bill with yellow at the base of the lower mandible. This bird is very similar in appearance to the eastern wood pewee; the two birds were formerly considered to be one species. The call of C. sordidulus is a loud buzzy peeer; the song consists of three rapid descending tsees ending with a descending peeer.
The olive-sided flycatcher is a small to medium sized passerine bird in the family Tyrannidae, the Tyrant flycatcher family. It is a migratory species that travels from South to North America to breed during the summer. It is a very agile flyer and mainly consumes flying insects on flight. Since 2016, this species has been assessed as being near-threatened globally (IUCN) and threatened in Canada (SRA) due to its declining populations.
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.
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.
The American three-toed woodpecker is a medium-sized woodpecker, which is native to North America.
Williamson's sapsucker is a medium-sized woodpecker belonging to the genus Sphyrapicus (sapsuckers).
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".
Cassin's vireo is a small North American songbird, ranging from southern British Columbia in Canada through the western coastal states of the United States, including California, Oregon, and Washington. The Cassin’s Vireo moves down Western United States forests in its migration. During its migration in early spring and late fall, it spends the winter in regions from southern Arizona to southern Mexico, including parts of Baja California and the Pacific coast of Mexico.
The Cuban green woodpecker is a species of woodpecker in the family Picidae and tribe Melanerpini, known locally in Cuban Spanish as carpintero verde. It is the only species within the genus Xiphidiopicus and is one of two woodpeckers endemic to Cuba. It is the most widespread and common woodpecker in Cuba, inhabiting primarily woodlands, as well as dry and wet forests, pine forests and mangroves. The population of the Cuban green woodpecker is stable and its status is listed as "Least Concern".