BLOG #2: "Midwinter Woodpeckers"

All photos, maps, charts, and text © Hilton Pond North

HOME

Contents

Contact

MIDWINTER WOODPECKERS

onlinefreeseotools.com web hit counter

Back to previous photo essay; on to next one

#2: 1-10 February 2025

On 22 February 2024 we moved to Hilton Pond North in the Blue Ridge Mountains of upper Ashe County NC and almost immediately erected suet cages and a variety of platform and tube feeders containing white millet, cracked corn, and/or black sunflower seed. Within the first two weeks we observed an amazing 22 bird species through the windows of our little cabin at 3,000' elevation, including American Goldfinches, Carolina Chickadees, and Tufted Titmice (above).

"This Week At Hilton Pond North" is an on-going series of original photo essays—posted more or less weekly—about natural history happenings here in the Blue Ridge Mountains of upper Ashe County, North Carolina. If you want a free e-mail reminder about each new installment, click here to SUBSCRIBE.

And if you like what you're reading and would like to help support the work of Hilton Pond North, please click on the PayPal DONATE button above or visit our FUNDING page for other ways you can contribute.

If you have questions or comments about the current installment, send an e-mail to thisweek@hiltonpond.org

We also encountered SIX members of the Picidae (Woodpecker Family): Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (female above, with white chin—red in males), Northern Flicker, and Downy, Hairy, Pileated, and Red-bellied Woodpeckers. Picid abundance and diversity is likely due in large part to our being among dense woods in which there are plenty of dead-standing trees that provide food and nest cavity sites for woodpeckers.

All photos, maps, charts, and text © Hilton Pond North

Although Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers possibly nest at higher elevations not far from us, we suspect those here depart in spring for breeding grounds further north. The other five picid species are undoubtedly local residents that stay year-round. In fact, two Red-bellied Woodpeckers have been hanging together, so we speculate they are a mated pair that will nest nearby.

The red-bellied male (photo above)—discernible by his red crown lacking in the female—typically foraged on the ground beneath a big tube feeder. One morning we watched as he grabbed single sunflower seeds and flew back and forth to a nearby post. There, he clung to old weathered wood and forced each seed into a small knothole before returning for another. He did this repeatedly, caching seeds he might find later but more likely destined to be pilfered by an enterprising chickadee, titmouse, or nuthatch—maybe even his own mate.

All photos, maps, charts, and text © Hilton Pond North

All photos, maps, charts, and text © Hilton Pond North

All photos, maps, charts, and text © Hilton Pond North

Easily our most common local picid is the Downy Woodpecker, which is also the smallest—smaller even than the female Northern Cardinal in the image above. Male downies have a red spot on the back of the head (that's a female in our photo) and both genders have black spots on their outer white tail feathers, as shown. The very similar-looking Hairy Woodpecker—nearly twice the size of its cousin and with a relatively longer bill—lacks the tail spots. We estimate our Downy Woodpeckers outnumber local Hairy Woodpeckers by 15-20 to one.

All photos, maps, charts, and text © Hilton Pond North

All photos, maps, charts, and text © Hilton Pond North

Apparently inhabiting our general neighborhood are 2-3 pairs of Pileated Woodpeckers (male, above, with dark reddish "mustache"—black in female). These big crow-sized birds can demolish a beetle-infested tree trunk in short order. We often hear them drumming loudly year-round on particularly resonant snags—not looking for grubs but announcing territory or trying to attract a mate. We've never had one come to a suet feeder, although we have hope!

Hilton Pond North also hosts at least a couple of Northern Flickers we seldom see (female, above, without a black "mustache"). It's surprising they're here because they're mostly birds of open areas where they forage on the ground, using sticky tongues to extricate ants from mounds. Various field guides have them listed as Common Flicker or Yellow-shafted Flicker, but the Northern Flicker epithet wins out these days because it indicates our Carolina bird does not interbreed with other North American flicker species.

The only other picid in this part of North Carolina is the Red-headed Woodpecker (sexually monomorphic with sexes looking alike), a species that's becoming increasingly uncommon across its North American range. (The photo depicts the only one we banded in 43 years at Hilton Pond Center in York SC.) As reported by the on-line version of Birds of North Carolina:

BIRDS BANDED AT HILTON POND NORTH

DURING THE CURRENT PERIOD

1-10 February 2025

● Species tallies for the year are in parentheses:

Dark-eyed Junco 3 (9)

American Goldfinch 13 (58)

Carolina Chickadee 1 (9)

Northern Cardinal 2 (6)

White-throated Sparrow 1 (9)

White-breasted Nuthatch 1 (1)

Mourning Dove 2 (16)

For the current period: 7 species, 23 individuals

For 2025: 12 species, 125 individuals

Grand totals, March 2024 to present: 67 species, 2,137 individuals

==========

● Notable recaptures/returns for the period (all birds banded locally):

American Goldfinch banded 03/21/24, now after-3rd-year female

Northern Cardinal banded 09/23/24, now 2nd-year male

Tufted Titmouse banded 09/05/24, now 2nd-year unknown (two birds)

Tufted Titmouse banded 09/05/24, now 2nd-year unknown (two birds)

Tufted Titmouse banded 09/09/24, now 2nd-year unknown

Tufted Titmouse banded 09/18/24, now 2nd-year unknown

White-breasted Nuthatch banded 09/05/24, now 2nd-year male

White-breasted Nuthatch banded 09/05/24, now after-2nd-year male

White-breasted Nuthatch banded 09/05/24, now after-2nd year female

White-breasted Nuthatch banded 09/30/24, now after-hatch-year female

Mourning Dove banded 05/18/24, now after-2nd-year male

Since Red-headed Woodpecker is a lower-elevation breeder it's possible at 3,000' we'll never add it to Hilton Pond North's “Yard List.” Thus, we’ll content ourselves with delighting in behaviors of the other six picid species, banding them when we can.

. . . Red-headed Woodpeckers are “scarce at all seasons [in the mountains], with migratory movements. Formerly (many decades ago) was a regular breeder in the lower elevations, but at present is a very rare to rare and sporadic breeder below 2,500', and probably absent above 3,000', though one was seen excavating a nesting cavity at 3,450' elevation in northeastern Watauga [County] on 07 Jul 2021. Most frequent in fall migration, when uncommon but can be seen even at higher elevations. In winter, mostly rare and typically only below 3,000'.”