Woodpeckers and Allies

Red-headed Woodpecker***

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Downy Woodpecker

Hairy Woodpecker

American Three-toed Woodpecker

Black-backed Woodpecker

Northern Flicker

Pileated Woodpecker

Red-headed Woodpecker***

Melanerpes erythrocephalus
For decades, the intersection of Roots Tavern and Nation roads between Avon and Geneseo has been the place to see Red-headed Woodpeckers. It is easy to see why. The field southeast of the intersection is a wonderful example of Red-headed Woodpecker habitat: A mostly open, grassy field, free of shrubs but dotted with magnificent oak trees, boughs spreading horizontally. These “ancient oaks, many probably dating back to pre-Revolutionary days, abound in the fields and woods of the rolling valley country between Avon and Geneseo,” John Brown wrote in 1980. “Surviving there with them are some species of birds that are hard to find elsewhere.” (BA, 26 June 1980) And so, on 3 February 1991 – a “gorgeous, sunny afternoon with temperatures in the low fifties” – a Genesee Ornithological Society field trip in search of Short-eared Owls made it a point to drop by the intersection in hopes of seeing the “sometime” colony of woodpeckers. “We were in luck,” Robert Spahn reported. (GOS, March 1991) “Several groups of the woodpeckers were flying about and squabbling in the treetops in the bright sun. All had good looks, many through telescopes.” But even though the old oaks contain enough nesting cavities to help the Red-heads stave off the competition from starlings, there is no guarantee that a visit to the intersection will actually provide a look at these birds. This species is no longer a “gimme” in our region, not even in traditional locations like this one.
Background
This handsome, boldly patterned woodpecker, a perennial favorite of birders, is fond of open areas where it can perch on tree stubs, fence posts and telephone poles before swooping to snatch a grasshopper or other insect, and then immediately fly back up to perch. “Over the last 200 years, this species has undergone periods of great abundance and periods when it appeared to be on the verge of extinction,” notes the profile in The Birds of North America series. Found across virtually all of the U.S. east of the Rockies, this is the “most expert and persistent flycatcher in its family,” preferring beech or oak in relatively open areas, with scattered trees and grassland and plenty of edge. Extremely pugnacious, it eats eggs and nestlings of several other bird species. Despite concern about starlings usurping its cavities, recent studies suggest this species is more resistant to attacks by starlings than other species. It is the only woodpecker known to store food – tightly wedging acorns and live grasshoppers into crevices, for example – and to cover its caches with wood or bark. It probably benefited from the demise of the American chestnut and American elm trees in the east, but may have been adversely affected by the disappearance of a formerly abundant grasshopper in the Midwest. This species was more common and widespread during the later 1700s and the 1800s throughout the northern and northeastern states, “possibly because open farmlands with numerous fencerows and small woodlots were common.” Moreover, American beech, an important food source, was more common at that time. It was also much more common in villages and towns, but much less so now, in part because dead limbs are promptly pruned. Commonly killed by collisions with cars. Reforestation of eastern U.S., loss of small orchards, loss of chestnuts, decline of oak-savanna habitat, fire suppression and cleaner farming practices, including larger, monoculture fields, have probably all contributed to its decline. Often leaves northern and western parts of range in winter, but will stay if mast is available. Declining generally over much of its breeding territory, with Great Lakes Plain among areas with sharpest decreases. (BNA 518: 1, 4-5, 7-8, 13, 19-20)
Local history
Eaton (1914) considered it “still locally plentiful” in western New York, but added that it was becoming “less and less common” because “there are fewer and fewer dead branches for its accommodation…” He listed it as a fairly common summer resident in Livingston and Monroe Counties, occasionally staying year round in both counties. It also occurred as a summer resident in Wayne. (Eaton II: 154-155, I: county charts)However, R. E. Horsey, in his listing of birds seen at Rochester and Monroe County from 1913 to 1936, indicated that this species, though “often resident” was “not noted every year.” He reported average counts of one to three birds, with a maximum count of 20. And by 1940, Edson lamented the growing toll from being struck by automobiles. Whereas “twenty years ago it was to be found in many spots in Monroe County and could be considered a fairly common bird . . . today my records show few spots where it nests. . . . Just why this bird persists in alighting on roads where fast moving traffic is the rule is difficult to understand.” (WBR, 22 July 1940) When Leo Tanghe analyzed 1,665 outings by Genesee Ornithological Society members from 1951 through 1954, it was one of the least encountered of our woodpeckers, with only 59 sightings reported within a 50-mile radius of Rochester, compared to 1,043 sightings for Downy, and 829 for Northern Flicker. (KB 5: 69: 4A-4B) In his 1953 listing of breeding birds in the Rochester area, Tanghe listed this as an uncommon nester, specifically mentioning Ling Road and Scottsville as nesting locations. (GOS, May/August 1953)An unusual nesting location was found in 1954 after one was seen pecking at the mast of a large sailboat at the Rochester Yacht Club. “Later the bird was observed carrying food to a nesting hole in a nearby tree,” Edson reported. This species was not often seen along the Lake Ontario shoreline, he added, but was regular along the river near Scottsville. (WBR, 19 July 1954)
Status       The Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as a regular, uncommon summer resident and an irregular, rare winter visitant.Livingston County, Fox (1998) considered this an irregular uncommon winter visitant and a regular fairly common summer resident.
Occurrence     Spring: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 25 March to 19 May, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 28 April to 7 May.  Lakeshore movements of migrating birds “used to be a regular event,” Bob Spahn noted in 1993. (GOS, July/August 1993) Twelve were migrating on 15 May 1971 (T. Tetlow) at Manitou. (GNR)
Other spring maxima:      35 on 12 March 1977 (F. and R. Dobson) at Avon. (GOS, May 1977)       12 on 28 March 1971 (Doherty et al) Nations Road. (GNR)
Summer/breeding status: “Red-headed Woodpecker . . . had decreased significantly in our region in the past 10-15 years,” Bob Spahn noted in 1993. (GOS, July/August 1993) “Few nesting pairs or colonies reported. All now get their ‘year list birds’ from a few well known sites.” One such site was along Nations Road, especially at the intersection with Roots Tavern Road, in Livingston County.The BBA projects document an accelerating decline in this species’ breeding presence. During the first project, Red-headed Woodpecker was confirmed breeding in a surprising number of blocks throughout much of the region when birders were forced to canvass areas not usually frequented. This was especially true in southern and western Monroe, to the south through all but southeastern Livingston, and to the west into Orleans, Genesee and Wyoming counties. This seemed to belie the belief of birders that Nations Road, in effect, constituted the last stronghold of this species.During the second project, however, all the direst predictions about this species were borne out. Breeding was confirmed primarily in four contiguous blocks in the Nations Road area, in a cluster of blocks along the Monroe/Livingston County line, and in scattered blocks along the Lakeshore. Now, more than ever, Nations Road indeed appears to be this species’ last, true stronghold in our region.

This observer was not only thrilled, but apparently quite fortunate to find a pair nesting at the rear of Riverside Cemetery in Rochester during the second project. When he returned to the spot a couple of years later, the site appeared to have been recently graded, and no Red-headed Woodpeckers could be found.
Summer maxima:     8 on 27 June 1993 (RBA field trip) at Avon. (LG, June/July 1993)  12 on 3 June 2000 (Kimball) at Nations Road. (GNR)  10 on 13 June 1971 (Haller et al) at Canadice Lake. (GOS, October 1971)  11 on 19 June 1966 (Genesee Ornithological Society hike) at Avon. (GNR)
Fall: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of departure dates from 29 August to 7 November, with a mid range, or “normal departure time” of 22 September to 13 October.
Fall maxima:     15 on 2 September 1996 (K. Fox) at Avon. (LG, October 1996)     25 on 11 October 1982 (F. Dobson, J. Kesselring) Avon. (GOS, December 1982)
Winter: This species will withdraw from northern parts of its range in winter when mast crop is poor, so even at traditional colonies, tallies may be low some years. “With acorn crop poor, Red-headed Woodpeckers are low, having disappeared from their Nations Road stronghold,” the Goshawk reported for January 1987. (GOS, March 1987) Reports the following couple of winters must have also been scarce, because sightings at Nations Road during the winter of 1989-1990 came “after an apparent absence of a couple of years” after “slim” acorn crops. (KB 40: 100; Birds, 3 June 1990)Even so, this species had been recorded in 20 of the past 22 winters in Livingston County, Fox noted in 1998. (Fox, p. 60) Six were at a feeder in Avon during the winter of 1962-1963 eating sunflower seeds and peanuts. (Bull, p. 355) Occasionally found in winter at Conesus Lake or other Genesee River valley sites, such as Leicester, Fox notes. (Fox, p. 60) As many as seven were at Hamlin Beach SP (Symonds, mob) on 1 February 2007. (LG, April 2007)
Winter maxima:       12+ on 26 December 1981 (B. and E. Molyneaux) Nations Road. (LG, January 1982)      19 on 6 January 1978 (R. Clark, Symonds) along Nations Road. (LG, February 1978)      12 on 12 February 1978 (RBA trip) Nations Road. (LG, March 1978)

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Melanerpes carolinus
One of the joys of the Breeding Bird Atlas is the opportunity to witness moments of high drama as parents struggle to ensure survival of their young broods. On 25 June 2001, this birder witnessed one such moment when he dropped by to see how the Red-bellied Woodpeckers were coming along at their nest cavity in the woods near Rose Marsh along the lakeshore. He had watched a male carry food to the cavity 11 days before. At that time, the male almost completely disappeared into the hole before re-emerging. Clearly the nestlings inside were still small. Perhaps they were almost ready to fledge now, and might be glimpsed at the entrance to the cavity. Instead, all hell broke loose. A red squirrel was working its way up the tree trunk, directly toward the opening of the nest cavity! The parent woodpeckers were frantic, diving at the squirrel repeatedly, wings spread, flying close enough to almost brush the squirrel off the side of the trunk. Their alarm calls reverberated continuously through the surrounding woods. The squirrel broke off and fled.A mere half-century ago, nesting Red-bellied Woodpeckers would have been found in only one spot in our region. Now they are hard to miss in our woodlots, especially when they give their distinctive “chawh” or “churr” call.
Background
This woodpecker, widespread throughout the eastern U.S., seldom excavates wood for insects. Instead, depending on the season, it forages for a wide range of fruit, mast, seeds and insects, notes the profile of this species in The Birds of North America series. Its tongue is “highly modified: cylindrical, pointed and barbed at tip, aiding in extraction of prey from crevices.” This is the most abundant woodpecker in the southeastern U.S., but also expanded its range northward and westward in the last half of the 20th Century, with all but northernmost birds resident year-round. Maturing forests in the northeast, and an increase in backyard feeders has helped its expansion. It has infiltrated the Great Plains by following wooded river bottoms into urban areas where planted trees have matured. It will usurp nests of Red-cockaded Woodpeckers and, in turn, have its own cavities usurped by Starlings. “Contemporaneous nest initiation by Red-bellied Woodpeckers and European Starlings, and lower levels of aggressiveness in nest defense cause Red-bellied Woodpeckers to experience higher cavity losses to starlings than other woodpeckers do,” delaying nesting until later in the season when breeding success may be reduced. Nonetheless, populations continue to increase, and “because the species inhabits a wide variety of forest types . . . and nests in dead portions of live trees, the likelihood of it becoming threatened or endangered is much lower than (for) most other woodpecker species in North America.” (BNA 500: 1-2, 6, 12, 18-19)
Local history
“When birders from New York City and New England come to Rochester and we offer to show them eagles or barn owls or, occasionally, purple sandpipers, they are usually only mildly interested,” John Brown noted in 1954. “The bird they want to see is the red-bellied woodpecker. And we in the Genesee Valley are the ones who can show it to them.” (BA, 15 July 1954)But it would have involved a trip to Golah, near Scottsville on the Genesee River – the only reliable breeding location in the Rochester area at that time. This “southern invader” is only recently common here. There were several records of breeding in western New York by the early 1900s. And yet, so tenuous was its foothold that Eaton (1914) feared it would be extirpated if not “strictly protected in the few localities where it is found.” He listed it as only an occasional resident in Monroe County and an irregular winter visitor there, with no indication of occurrence in Livingston or Wayne. (Eaton, II: 157-158, I: county charts) R. E. Horsey, in his listing of birds seen at Rochester and Monroe County from 1913 to 1936, considered it rare here, with a single pair resident at Golah at the very southern end of Monroe County and an “occasional report elsewhere.” Edson concurred, noting in 1936 that “a pair can always be found at Golah,” but “in the immediate vicinity of Rochester. . .they are seen only as individuals that wander in here for a few days at a time.” (WBR, 3 February 1936) “The Golah site provided many of the early records for both the Rochester and Buffalo birding groups,” Fox notes. “It was often a targeted species on annual field trips to the area in the late 1940s and early 1950s.” (Fox, p. 60)The birds had been recorded there since 1916. (“Red-Bellied Woodpecker Again in Genesee Haunts,” D&C, 1 February 1932)Even in 1953, Tanghe considered this only a rare nester here, citing Scottsville and West Rush woods. (GOS, May/August 1953) Indeed, when he analyzed sightings by Genesee Ornithological Society members from 1951 through 1954, this was still the rarest of our resident woodpeckers, with only 52 sightings within a 50-mile radius of Rochester. Even Pileated (59) and Red-headed (59) were seen more often. (KB 5: 69: 4A-4B)That began to change by the end of the decade. In January 1958, Jean Haller tallied 18 Red-bellieds in the Avon area. (GOS, March/May 1958) And then: “This week brought to light more records of red-bellied woodpeckers than have ever been recorded here,” Edson reported in November 1959, with at least three at feeders. (WBR, 23 November 1959)Single birds began showing up regularly on the Rochester CBC in 1961. It was breeding on the west side of Silver Lake in 1961; at Pavilion, Avon and Caledonia in 1963; at Le Roy in 1965, and at Reed Road swamp and Clyde in 1969. (Bull, p. 354) By 1971 this species was reported in “more places and more often” than Red-headed Woodpecker (KB 21:220), and by 1976 it was “too common to be noteworthy,” O’Hara observed (KB 26:102) – though 20 on 12 March 1977 (F. and R. Dobson) at Avon did indeed make the March 1977 noteworthy records in the Goshawk.
Status
The Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as a fairly common permanent resident.Livingston County, Fox (1998) considered this a regular fairly common permanent resident.
Occurrence
Breeding status: By the first BBA project (1980-85), this species was well established throughout our region. Indeed, Region 2 had one of the heaviest concentrations of confirmed breeding in the entire state.The second project reaffirmed that this is now one of our most common breeding woodpeckers.

The second project also documented the continuing expansion of this species statewide.The first project clearly defined two widely separated populations in the state, one along the north shore of Long Island extending up the Lower Hudson River, and the other in the Genesee River-Finger Lakes region. (Andrle, p. 228) By the second project, the Genesee River-Finger Lakes population had expanded westward to Lake Erie, south to the Pennsylvania border, eastward into the Mohawk Valley and northward along the eastern shore of Lake Ontario. The Long Island/Lower Hudson population had filled in most of Long Island and extended well up the Hudson, apparently also entering the Mohawk Valley from the east.Bull believed the Genesee/Finger Lakes population entered this area not from the south, but the west, as the species spread up the Mississippi and Ohio valleys into southeast Ontario, then through the Niagara frontier between lakes Erie and Ontario into western New York. (Bull, p. 354) Meade suggested another possibility: that the Red-bellieds may have come from due south, up the Susquehanna and Genesee river valleys to the Great Lakes Plain. (Andrle, p. 228)Christmas Bird Counts have also helped document this species’ increase. Red-bellieds are now the second most numerous woodpecker species recorded on the Rochester CBC, trailing only the Downy Woodpecker. (From 1984 through 2003, a total of 3,022 Downys, 1,725 Red-bellieds, 1,042 Hairys and 712 Northern Flickers were tallied.)

Misc.
Meade suggested two possible causes for this species’ expansion: “In the 1960s residential bird feeding began to be more popular, giving the Red-bellied Woodpecker an increased food supply; second, it was during the 1950s and 1960s that elms were dying from Dutch elm disease, particularly in river swamps. These dying trees (upstate) attracted wood borers and other insects, providing additional food and nesting sites. The resulting growth in population provided pressure for range expansion.” (Andrle, p. 228) Reforestation of abandoned farmland in New York has probably helped this species as well. Also working in this bird’s favor is the fact that it adapts to a wide range of wooded habitat, even urban areas; feeds opportunistically on a wide range of insects, mast, fruits, seeds and sap; and uses a variety of foraging techniques as needed. (BNA 500: 1, 4-6)As these birds became more common in our area, more of these varied feeding techniques became evident. “This year, for the first time, reports have come in of Red-Bellied woodpeckers visiting feeders and dining on sunflower seeds,” John Brown reported in 1959. (BA, 3 December 1959) “At first this was a little hard to believe, but we now have one that is a steady sunflower seed customer. He backs down the tree trunk to the feeding shelf, grabs a seed, takes it away, jams it in a crevice and extracts the meat the same way the nuthatches do.” A female at the Gillette farm in Savannah “uses a small hole in an adjacent tree as a sort of tool. When she takes sunflower seeds, she quite often drops them in the hole, where she shells them without worrying about dropping the tasty meat on the ground or into the snow.” (Birds, 12 March 1989)Pat Martin, scouting Durand-Eastman Park in advance of a 1 January 1992 field trip, enjoyed watching one “hanging upside down ‘bobbing’ for a crab apple. It dislodged the apple from the tree, flew off with it in its beak and landed on a horizontal limb where it proceeded to peck at the apple from above (to get at the worm inside?). Pretty neat.” (LG, January 1992) Nonetheless, like other cavity dwellers, it must compete against Starlings. The tenacity of this woodpecker – and the challenges its faces – were amply illustrated on 22 May 1996 in Badgerow Park. A Starling was perched near a Red-bellied Woodpecker’s nesting cavity, apparently intent on usurping it. The Red-bellied flew at the Starling, “tangled with it,” this birder recorded, “but the Starling was more than able to hold its own. This went on repeatedly, with the Red-bellied giving alarm calls constantly and periodically retreating to its cavity, going in, immediately coming out and diving at the Starling.“At one point the Starling actually slipped around the Red-bellied and went into the cavity; the Red-bellied followed it right in. After a second or two out comes the Starling followed by the Red-bellied, and that seems to end the encounter – at least for the time

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Sphyrapicus varius
A birder accustomed to having these wary birds play hide and seek with him was intrigued by a male who “broke all the rules” in Island Cottage Wood during a field trip on 14 April 1996. “This fellow kept coming closer and closer as he flew from trunk to trunk. Soon he was about 10 feet away, at eye level, showing us his profile, his back, and just about every other angle as he moved around the trunk. “We oohed and awed quietly, and soon discovered why this bird may not have been paying attention to us. Other sapsuckers were on its mind. As many as six could be seen at any given time; as many as three on the same trunk, displaying toward each other with stiff bodies and much calling back and forth. More than once a bird would glide with red crown feathers erect and wings lowered toward a tree where another sapsucker perched.” (LG, April 1996)William L. G. Edson seemed to have arrived at a similar theory in 1929. “While here, the sapsucker is a very secretive bird, at least he is when he first arrives, and often the only hint of his presence is the slight scratching noise made by his claws as he circles a tree trunk to keep on the opposite side from you. Sometimes before these birds leave for their nesting grounds, they become so abundant and the competition for sap becomes so keen, that they forget their fear of man as they become engrossed in driving competitors from their sap preserves, and then their snarling notes attract attention.” (“Brown Thrasher Brings Its Tuneful Note Ten Days Early,” D&C, 15 April 1929)
Background
The neat lines of holes in tree bark are the “sap wells” that this species drills to bring out the sap it feed on. It assiduously maintains these wells on its breeding grounds from western Alaska, across much of Canada to the upper Midwest, Great Lakes and northeastern U.S., south into Pennsylvania and sections of the Appalachians. These wells, usually drilled in wounded or weakened trees, are used by many other animals to supplement their diets, either with the sap itself or the insects attracted to it. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, for example, often nest near sap wells, follow sapsuckers in their daily movements and may even time their migration to coincide with that of sapsuckers. This woodpecker winters primarily in southeastern U.S., Mexico, Central America, Cuba and the West Indies. Despite declines due to loss of habitat in the Appalachians, overall populations appear stable according to BBS data. This species is probably more numerous now than in presettlement times; Europeans created forest gaps and edges, favoring the early-successional habitats preferred by sapsuckers. (BNA 662: 1, 6, 18)Eaton said he had frequently seen sapsuckers that had “tapped at least a dozen trees in the same immediate vicinity, each one of which he visited in turn, lapping up the sap from all the holes with his brushy tongue and then passing on to the next by merely casting himself backward from the trunk and soaring with one swoop to the next tree without a stroke of his wing, working up this trunk and passing on to the next….”It was not unusual in warmer weather to find “a Sapsucker so gorged with fermented sap that he allowed himself to be picked up in the hand, and I have seen one alight on the clothing of a bird student and climb up his outstretched arm without seeming to realize that he was on a man instead of a tree.” (Eaton II: 150-151)
Local history
Eaton (1914) considered it “one of the commonest woodpeckers throughout the greater portion of the State” during migration. He listed it as a common transient in Monroe, Wayne and Livingston counties. (Eaton II: 149, I: county charts) “Occasionally a birds stays into Jan. or Feb.” R. E. Horsey reported in his listing of birds seen at Rochester and Monroe County from 1913 to 1936. Otherwise, he indicated, this was seen primarily as a migrant, with average spring counts of one to 10 birds, and a maximum count of 50, on dates ranging from 13 March to 24 May. In fall, average counts were one to two birds, with a maximum count of four, on dates ranging from “14 September to ?” One on 23 July 1949 (Leubner) at Letchworth SP suggested breeding possibilities there. (GNR) By the early 1950s it was indeed confirmed breeding in our region. Tanghe, in his 1953 listing of breeding birds in the Rochester area, considered this a rare nester at such locations as Powder Mill Park and Skunk Hollow (Route 33, just west of Chili/Riga town line). (GOS, May/August 1953) However, it was still seen by far and away more often as a spring migrant. For example, when Tanghe examined 1,665 outings by Genesee Ornithological Society members from 1951-1954, 115 of the 159 sightings were second week of April through third week in May, with only one record each in June, July and August and only two reports in winter – both in the first week of February. (KB 5: 69: 4A-4B)
Status
The Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as a regular, fairly common spring and fall transient; an occasional, rare summer visitant and an irregular, rare winter visitant.Livingston County, Fox (1998) considered this an occasional rare winter visitant, a (presumably regular) fairly common spring and fall transient and a (presumably regular) uncommon summer resident.
Occurrence
Spring: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 2 March to 5 May, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 6 to 16 April. In most years had departed by 22 May, with a late departure date of 9 June.Surely the oddest sighting came on 18 April 1960, when Allan Klonick saw one “riding the rubber bumper of a transit company bus in front of Sibley’s (downtown) . . . As he watched, it flew off, tried to land on a street light pole, then flew down Main street”! (BA, 21 April 1960)
Spring maxima: 432 on 10-11 April 2002 (mob) when birders conducted a group search for these birds along a 20-mile stretch of lakeshore woodlots. (KB 52:240) 30 on 16 April 1961 (Listman) west lakeshore. (KB 11:101) 75 on 21 April 1979 (Lloyd, Sunderlin) along the west lakeshore. (GOS, June 1979) 30 on 3 June 1962 (Miller, O’Hara) at Powder Mill Park; late for such a large number. (GOS, September 1962)
Summer/breeding status: In June 2002, this birder was intrigued at the sight of a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker repeatedly flying back and forth from the same tree, right in the “front yard” of a row of modernized guest cottages overlooking the Glen Iris Inn at Letchworth SP. Closer inspection revealed that the sapsuckers were nesting in a tree cavity. All of the birder’s encounters up to that point had been with migrating birds – and most of them had been extremely wary. And now he had found them nesting in what amounted to the front lawn of heavily used cabins. Perhaps he shouldn’t have been surprised after all. The Breeding Bird Atlas projects clearly document that this species, once rarely found nesting anywhere but in the Adirondacks and Catskills, is greatly expanding its breeding presence all across the southern tier and throughout much of western New York away from the lake plain. Region 2 is no exception. By the second BBA project, it showed a significant increase in the number of blocks with evidence of breeding, especially in higher elevation, forested blocks to the south. “The hills are saturated with Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers,” according to the notes to the July 2002 noteworthy records in the Goshawk.

Both projects found only scattered evidence of breeding along the lake plain. Indeed, this species was “almost totally absent from the Great Lakes plain, where it formerly bred in Niagara, Orleans and Wayne counties,” Emanuel Levine noted in his profile of this species for The Atlas of Breeding Birds in New York State. (Andrle, p. 230) But it does occur. Breeding was confirmed at Powder Mills Park in 1950. (GOS, June/August 1950) An adult and two young were found there on 30 June 1962, and seven adults and immatures were there that 8 July. (KB12: 147) At that time it was “the only place in the Rochester area where this bird is known to nest regularly.” By 1971, it was “apparently” nesting in Ellison Park (KB 21:220), and it probably breeds in Durand-Eastman Park. (information from Dominic Sherony) Bergen Swamp is another nesting location. The “best single sighting” on a 12 June 2004 field trip there was a “Yellow-bellied Sapsucker nest hole where both adults were busily carrying in food and carrying away fecal sacs,” Jay Greenberg reported. “There was no doubt that the nest contained young.” (LG, July/August 2004)
Fall: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 20 August to 3 October, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 17 to 26 September. In most years had departed by 24 October, with a late departure date of 7 November. One in September 1968 spent most the day on a window ledge of the 18th floor of the Xerox Tower downtown, apparently in a dazed condition, probably after striking the building at night. (BA, 26 September 1968)
Winter: Edson recounted how one sapsucker tried to winter at Highland Park during the winter of 1931-32, but “was a young bird and possibly was not sufficiently vigorous to continue its migration and finally was picked up dead on Jan. 21.” This was eerily similar to the fate of another sapsucker that wintered at a park feeding station in 1922 – and was found dead on 22 January. (WBR, 8 January 1951; “Lone Sapsucker Ready to Pit Strength Against King Winter,” D&C, 23 November 1931) One reported from West Rush in January 1951, on the other hand, “seemed in perfect health.” It is no longer unusual for one or two to be reported wintering here. Region 2 Kingbird reports mention January or early February sightings of this species in at least 19 of 30 years from 1976 to 2005. Gerhard Leubner’s feeder in Irondequoit, for example, attracted these birds in the early 1990s. One that wintered 25 December 1993 to 31 January 1994 was “fond of bananas, apples and oranges.” (KB44: 121)

Downy Woodpecker

Dryobates pubescensformerly Picoides pubescens “The little Downy is the least suspicious of our woodpeckers, coming fearlessly to the suet or bag of scraps placed on ‘the birds’ lunch counter’ or nailed to the tree or window sill . . .” Eaton (1914) observed. “He can even be taught to take food from the hand.” Even in wilder settings, “when one approaches him while at work, he merely hitches a few feet farther up the tree or edges around the trunk, occasionally stealing a glance at the intruder to satisfy himself that no harm is intended.” (Eaton II: 143) Half a century later, Eaton’s observations still applied. Mrs. Gus Kirvan of Ford Avenue, who supplied wintering birds with food at such widely separated spots as Cedar Springs and Powder Mill Park “has now succeeded in coaxing Downy woodpeckers as well as Chickadees to eat out of her hand at Reed Road Sanctuary.” (BA, 12 March 1959)
Background
This is a year-round resident from coast to coast, from the tree line in Canada and Alaska to southern Florida and southern California, “equally at home in urban woodlots or wilderness forests.” The males tend to forage on smaller branches, females on larger branches and trunks. The bill is less chisel-shaped than other North American woodpeckers, so it can be used as a “pick” for piercing and opening insect tunnels that lie just under the bark surface, but also as a “fine-pointed forceps” to pick tiny insect eggs from tree and leaf surfaces. This species probably benefits from some clearing of forests, since it does well along wood edges, but has been hurt by the shift from wooden to metal fence posts. Nonetheless, this remains the most common woodpecker in the eastern U.S. Recent declines in New York state may reflect a return to “normalcy” from the inflated population buildups that occurred in the 1950s and 1960s during the peak of mortality in American elms due to Dutch elm disease. (BNA 613: 1, 7, 19, 20)
Local history
This woodpecker has apparently always been common in our region. Eaton (1910) listed this as a common resident in Monroe, Livingston and Wayne counties (as opposed to fairly common for Hairy). (Eaton I: county charts)R. E. Horsey, in his listing of birds seen at Rochester and Monroe County from 1913 to 1936, indicated average counts of one to two birds, with a maximum count of 12.When Leo Tanghe analyzed 1,665 outings by Genesee Ornithological Society members from 1951 through 1954, this was the woodpecker most frequently encountered, appearing on no fewer than 1,043 outings within a 50-mile radius of Rochester. (KB 5: 69: 4A-4B)In 1953, Tanghe listed this as a common breeding species in the Rochester area, listing the Burroughs-Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary and Bergen Swamp as nesting locations. (GOS, May/August 1953)
Status
The Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as a common permanent resident.Livingston County, Fox (1998) considered this a common permanent resident.
Occurrence
One of the first challenges for a beginning birder is telling this common resident from the larger, nearly identical Hairy. One clue: Downy is much “friendlier” and less likely to spook. It routinely outnumbers Hairy on the Rochester CBC and nests in a variety of settings, even near humans. Evidence of breeding was found in virtually every block assigned to Region 2 during the two BBA projects, which produced remarkably similar breakdowns of blocks with possible, probable and confirmed breeding.

Indeed, “its abundance probably increased during this (20th) century” in New York, John Confer notes in his profile of this species for The Atlas of Breeding Birds in New York State. The abandonment of farms and subsequent regrowth of woodlands means “the amount of suitable habitat and therefore the density of this bird’s population is probably greater now than at any other time during this century.” (Andrle, p. 232)
Maxima: 55 on 26 December 1976 (R. Clark, Symonds) Conesus Lake. (LG, January 1977)

Hairy Woodpecker

Dryobates villosusformerly Picoides villosus
An adult male was not at all amused when this birder stood 25 yards away from its nest in Badgerow Park on 28 June 1990. “This irritated it no end,” he noted in his diary. “He continually gave a rapid staccato alarm call from nearby branches, and would even land and approach right up to the nest hole itself, but would not stick his head in to the deliver the caterpillar he was carrying in his beak. “Instead, he kept giving his alarm call.” What a commotion!“Soon all kinds of birds were stirring in nearby trees, peeking to see what was gong on . . .All the while I can hear the thinner call of the young hairy woodpeckers from inside the cavity. Time and again the male would approach the hole, but not go in, all the while keeping up his piercing alarm call. “If it was intended to make me feel like an unwanted intruder, it worked; guiltily I soon made my way further down the path.” (Marcotte diary entry)
Background
This familiar bird can be found from the treeline in Alaska and Canada south across almost all of the United States into Mexico and even parts of Central America and the Bahamas, and shows great variation in size and plumage across its extensive range. Some races, for example, have buffy underparts and appear much darker overall. Prefers mature forests, but also occurs in lesser numbers in small woodlots, wooded parks, cemeteries, shaded residential areas and other urban areas with mature shade trees. “During the breeding season, it becomes so inconspicuous that its presence can go unnoticed.” Populations in many areas of eastern North America have been undergoing a “slight but steady” decline, primarily because of forest fragmentation and also because of nest-site competition with Starlings. (BNA 702: 1, 2, 7, 18-19)
Local history
Eaton (1910) listed this as a fairly common resident in Monroe, Livingston and Wayne counties (as opposed to common for Downy). (Eaton I: county charts)R. E. Horsey, in his listing of birds seen at Rochester and Monroe County from 1913 to 1936, indicated this was an “uncommon” resident. Average counts were one to two birds, with a maximum count of four. Hairies are generally less common and much more wary than the smaller, look-alike Downy, which it outnumbers only in extensive woodlands. (Andrle, p. 234) In 1953, Leo Tanghe listed this as an “uncommon” breeder in the Rochester area, compared to the “common” Downy. (GOS, May/August 1953)And when he analyzed 1,665 outings by Genesee Ornithological Society members from 1951 through 1954, Hairy was encountered only half as often as Downy, showing up on 514 outings within a 50-mile radius of Rochester, compared to 1,043 for Downy and 829 for Northern Flicker. (KB 5: 69: 4A-4B)Apparently Dutch elm disease temporarily shifted the balance. Howard Miller, writing in 1958, noted: “Another interesting sidelight on this elm disease is the change in the relative numbers of the Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers. Before this disease became widespread the Downy was much the commoner of the two birds in the city during the winter. Now the reverse is true, there apparently being some factor involved which makes the dead elms more attractive to the Hairy.” (KB7:121)One would expect that its numbers decreased during the great clearing of forests of the 1800s, then slowly increased as farms were abandoned during the 1900s, allowing woodlands to grow back. However, “the literature provides no evidence of such fluctuations,” Steven C. Sibley notes in his profile of this species for The Atlas of Breeding Birds in New York State. “This species has apparently remained fairly common throughout the past century or more.” (Andrle, p. 234)
Status
The Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as a fairly common permanent resident.Livingston County, Fox (1998) considered this a fairly common permanent resident.
Occurrence
Breeding status: Breeding was found throughout the region during the two BBA projects, albeit in slightly fewer blocks than Downy. A Hairy was observed feeding young on the late date of 10 October 1992. (Notes to GNR)

American Three-toed Woodpecker

(formerly Northern Three-toed Woodpecker)Picoides dorsalis
Sixty-three years later, Bob Beikirch still told the story of the day he went to Tryon Park with Walt Listman and saw the bird of his young ornithological career. “March 6, 1943. It was 8 a.m. We probably took a bus to get there.” Bob was only 15 at the time, just six months into birding, and Listman couldn’t have been more than three years older. Beikirch saw the woodpecker first. Right off, it didn’t look right. It didn’t have the markings of a Hairy or a Downy. Then Listman got a look and saw the yellow on the head. That clinched it: A three-toed woodpecker. “We were very excited,” Beikirch recalls. “I think we even cut short our hike to go back home and look up the bird, just to be sure.” No wonder they were excited. American Three-toed Woodpecker is a bird only very rarely seen in our area. Now came the hard part for these two youngsters: Going to William Edson’s house for the next Genesee Ornithological Society meeting, and convincing all the veteran birders what they had seen. “Walt and I were so afraid to tell them we had seen this bird. We worried that they wouldn’t believe us.” W. B. Muchmore must have felt the same kind of excitement when he went to Genesee Valley Park on 27 December 1956, in search of a rarity – and got more than he bargained for. Due to a misunderstanding, he thought he was looking for what is now called a Black-Backed Woodpecker, a rare enough irruptive here. But when he spotted the bird, chipping off tree bark, “the barred back, the more extensive white on the face, and the smaller size (compared with a Hairy Woodpecker feeding in the same tree) indicated that it was an American Three-toed Woodpecker” -- an even rarer irruptive. (GOS, July-December 1956) Indeed, there appear to be fewer than 10 occurrences of this species here. (Note: If one treats the 1-4 at Webster Park from November 1965 to March 1966 as a single “occurrence.”)
Background
This species not only breeds farther north than any other woodpecker, but is also the only one common to both the Old and New World. Its distribution across Alaska, Canada, the Rockies and northeastern U.S. often coincides with spruce forests, notes the profile of this species in The Birds of North America series, and is generally uncommon and local, associating with infestations of insects that occur after disturbances such as fire. Unlike its close relative the Black-Backed, which specializes on wood boring beetles, the Three-toed concentrates on bark beetles. This may explain why the irruptions of these two species are not always related. In addition, this species seems less inclined to irrupt than Black-Backed, and moves later, and over shorter distances when it does. Given their low population densities, these woodpeckers are difficult to monitor. There is little doubt this species is declining in northern Europe and probably in North America as well. Fire suppression practices, and the prompt logging of trees damaged by fire or insects reduces this species’ prey. (BNA 588: 1-2, 6, 17-18)This is the least abundant woodpecker nesting in New York, and is limited primarily to the Adirondacks where it prefers areas where dead timber remains after fires or logging. (Andrle, p. 236) Eaton could find no records of this species occurring any substantial distance from the boreal forests of northern New York, and thus considered it “one of our perfectly nonmigratory species.” (Eaton, II:147) Status
The Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as a sporadic, rare winter visitant.
Occurrence
Most of our records occurred during the height of the Dutch Elm disease infestations. The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of dates from 28 October to 13 March. 1. One on 14 November 1923 no location given. (Horsey) 2. One 27 and 29 December 1931 no location given. (Horsey) 3. Edson apparently did believe Beikirch and Listman. He reported that one had been sighted near the Float Bridge on 7 March 1943. (WBR, 15 Mar 1943) 4. One week ending 2 November 1945 (Paul, Schaefer) “studied at close range for ten minutes” in a willow tree at Tryon Park. (WBR, 5 Nov 1945) 5. The female 27 December to 1 March during the winter of 1956-57 that Muchmore observed was present at South Pond in Genesee Valley Park at the height of the Dutch elm disease, and at the same time Black-backed Woodpeckers were present in three locations. Rochester birders must have been in seventh heaven. It was the first time these two species were seen here simultaneously, Edson reported. It also appears to have been only the fifth Monroe County record for this species. (WBR, 31 December 1956, 7 January 1957; B&M, p. 299) It is not clear whether a female reported “south of Rochester” on 11 May 1957 (KB 7:55) was the same bird. It was about two miles away on Winslow Road. The last spurt of sightings came in the mid 1960s. 6. A female on 22 December 1963 (Foster) near Durand-Eastman Park was seen several times until 14 March 1964 in the Huntington Hills section. (WBR, 6 January 1964; KB 14:99) 7. Two 28 November 1965 (Lloyd) at Webster Park (KB 16: 32, WBR 6 December 1965) when Black-backed also was in our region. Anywhere from one to four were reported at the park, often seen frequenting dead elms along Camp Cutler Woods until at least 13 March. They were described as “tame.” (KB 16:100) But that did not necessarily make them easy to find. Walt Listman and other birders were looking for these woodpeckers when a member of the party noticed a quantity of bark fragments and chips she hadn’t noticed on the way in. “She walked over to the dead tree where they were and was scanning nearby trees for a sign of the birds when Listman called to her and told her to look straight up. There, about five feet over her head, was one of them poised absolutely still on the tree trunk.” (BA, 3 March 1966) 8. One 2 January 1966 (Lloyd, Sunderlin) near the south end of Hemlock Lake during the Little Lakes CBC. (KB 16:100-101, Fox, p. 106) Bull (1974) considered the 1956-1957 and 1965-1966 sightings at Rochester to be two of only three “reliable” occurrences of this species outside the Adirondacks in recent times. (Bull, p. 361) 9. One 24 September 1976 (Woldhek, Gable) at Sweden. (LGNR)
Misc.
The relative tameness of these birds was further illustrated by one Edson watched “digging grubs out of a sickly spruce hedge in Mt. Hope Cemetery. Like all of its kind it was entirely unsuspicious of man and allowed a very close approach. In their native haunts, they have very little contact with man, therefore have no reason to fear him.” (WBR, 31 Dec 1956)

Black-backed Woodpecker

(formerly Arctic Three-toed, Black-backed Three-toed)Picoides arcticus
When Peter Stutz glanced out his window at 1105 Monroe Ave. on 18 November 1956, he knew it was no Downy or Hairy woodpecker he saw on the bark of a dead elm in his yard. The local newspaperman and outdoorsman decided it must be an Arctic Three-toed Woodpecker, “an extremely rare winter visitant to this region.” “Being due at his office a few minutes later, he had no opportunity to investigate the matter further, but he did take time to call Allan Klonick to come over and verify his identification,” John Brown recounted. (BA, 29 November 1956) Klonick was busy, but Joe Taylor “proceeded to the scene and found not one Arctic Three-toed but two, a male and a female.” To be sure, 1105 Monroe Avenue will never rank among Rochester’s top birding spots. Nonetheless, it was the place to be during the winter of 1956-57.As many as five – that’s right, five – Black-backed Woodpeckers were reported there, flocking to a single “recently killed” elm tree. The irruption of this boreal species that fall into the following spring at the height of the Dutch elm disease infestation was simply spectacular – at least 12 “and possibly quite a few more” were believed present in our region – a number that hasn’t been approached, even remotely, since. (KB7:19) Gerry Rising was among the birders who flocked to see the birds at 1105 Monroe Ave. He described the bird he saw there on 25 November as a male, “slightly larger than two nearby Downy Woodpeckers” with a yellow head patch, dark grey back and light breast slightly streaked at the sides. “The bird was chewing chips from branches of an elm tree, leaving light trails where bark was removed.” (GOS, July-December 1956; see also BA 3 Jan 1957)
Background
This is “one of the most enigmatic woodpeckers in North America, and likely to remain so because of its general rarity,” notes the profile of this species for The Birds of North America series. Though it breeds from central Alaska, across Canada, south to California and New England, it reaches greatest density in areas of burned-over coniferous forest where its sooty black plumage is good camouflage. This renders the species “vulnerable to local and regional extinction as fire-suppression programs and postfire salvage logging increase.” It irrupts south of its range at irregular intervals to forage on outbreaks of wood boring beetles in burned or diseased stands of trees. (BNA 509: 1, 14) “Strips or flakes of bark beneath the diseased and dying or dead trees are usually indications” this species and its cousin the American Three-toed Woodpecker are present, Bull (1974) advised. (Bull, p. 359)Like the Three-toed Woodpecker above, this bird is primarily found in boreal forests. In New York it nests only in the Adirondacks. It is rarely seen here, but is more prone than the Three-toed to wander during periodic irruptions, when it is attracted to dead and dying trees.
Local history
Beardslee and Mitchell list at least two and possibly three early records from our region:A male collected prior to 1890 “near Albion” by Andrew Jowett.A female collected 23 February 1900 at Murray by F. A. Macomber.One seen 30 September 1918 at Le Roy by Fred P. Hazelton. (B&M, p. 298)The first record for Monroe County, according to Edson, was a bird seen east of Durand Eastman Park 24 October 1923, and later found dead and preserved. (WBR, 4 January 1954) The second was recorded 9 January 1926 (Horsey) at Genesee Valley Park.
Status
The Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as an occasional, rare fall to spring visitant. Occurrence In addition to as many as five early records, the following sightings have been reported, the vast majority at the height of the Dutch Elm disease infestation of the 1950s and 1960s.One on 27 December 1953 (Rochester CBC) hung around the north entrance to Genesee Valley Park through 16 January during a “small invasion” of this species in western New York. (KB 4:11; WBR, 4 January 1954; B&M, p. 298)The irruption of 1956-57: Part of a “spectacular invasion” in southeast Canada and the northeast U.S. that brought 38 sightings to New York State. (KB 12:12) Local sightings: A female on 28 October 1956 (Knox) near the Lower Falls, Letchworth SP (Fox, p. 61) A male on 4 November 1956 (Ulrich) at Wolf Run, Letchworth SP (Fox, p. 61) As many as 5 from 18 November 1956 - 15 February 1957 at 1105 Monroe Ave. (KB 6:124, 7:19, GNR) during a major irruption that also included: A female 23 November 1956 (O’Hara, Miller) Scottsville/Caledonia area. “The bird was tame and busy peeling bark from a dead willow.” (GNR, Fox, p. 61) One 30 December 1956 (White) on Summerville Boulevard. (GNR) One to four, January 1957, at various locations “appeared to feed entirely in recently killed elms.” (GOS, January 1957; KB 7:19) One 2 March 1957 (David) Pinnacle Hill. (GNR) One 21March 1957 (Holland) at 610 Park Ave. (GNR) A female 27 April 1957 (O’Hara, Miller) “observed in a swamp white oak in Long Ponds woods.” (KB 7:55) One in April 1957 (Melville) at Scottsville feeding “not on elm trees but on evergreen branches left as cover around a feeding station.” (BA, 2 May 1957) “Echo flight” of fall/winter 1957: One on 7, 11, 17 November and 14 December 1957 (L. Moon, mob) Durand Eastman Park (KB 7:121, 8:13; GNR) at least initially “feeding almost entirely in recently killed elms.” One on 15 December 1957 (Listman) on Dewey Avenue. (KB 8:13)Mini-incursion 1962-63 One 11, 22 November 1962, Penfield (KB 13:34) at the home of Dr. and Mrs. Edward T. Munson, frequenting willows along the streambed of a small tributary of Irondequoit Creek. “According to Mrs. Munson, the Arctic Woodpecker’s visit . . . was cut short by harassment from a group of particularly belligerent English sparrows,” John Brown reported. (BA, 29 November 1962)Two on 3 December 1962 (J. Brown) at Mt. Hope cemetery, remaining in southwest Rochester to 7 March. (KB 13:106) One 9 December 1962 (Lank) at Brighton. (KB 13:106)“Echo flight” of 1963-64: A female 17 October 1963 (Haller) Avon (KB 14:35) One 22 February 1964 (Kemnitzer, Listman) Sodus. (KB 14:99)Incursion of fall/winter 1965-66 An adult male 17 October 1965 (Foster) west bank of Genesee River at Rochester “feeding on the trunk of a large dead elm tree.” (KB 16:32; WBR, 25 October 1965) One 11 November 1965 (O’Hara) Durand-Eastman Park. (KB 16:32) One 5 December 1965 (Ross) Seneca Park. (KB 16:100) Two 26 December 1965 (H. and O. Schaefer) Penfield. (KB 16:100) One 2 January 1966 (J. and M. Doherty) Canadice Lake. (KB 16:100) A gap of 14 years occurred before: A female on 11-12 October 1980, Hamlin Beach SP (KB 31:27), spotted by Sandra Hazen in a small stand of red pines. Her report “broke up the shore watch as everyone raced to get a look at a bird that hadn’t been seen here in several years,” John Brown reported. (BA, 16 October 1980) Accepted by NYSARC. (KB 31:208) One to two males on 26-27 September 1981 near the west end of Hamlin Beach SP in “virtually the same spot where a female was last year,” again by Sandra Hazen with her father Robert. The adult male they found was later seen fighting with another of its species. (KB 32:41; BA, 1 October 1981) Accepted by NYSARC. (KB 32:231) An adult male 27 May 1991 (Boettger, Gruenbaum, mob) at Highland Park. (KB 41:182) Accepted by NYSARC. (KB 43:21)Mini incursion, fall 1992: One 30 September 1992 (Shone) Pittsford. (KB 43:45) One 4-5 October 1992 (Welds) Honeoye Falls. (KB 43:45)

Northern Flicker

(formerly Flicker, Common Flicker, Yellow-shafted Flicker)Colaptes auratus
This birder was momentarily startled on 26 June 2002 when a flicker flashed by in front of him, carrying a fecal sac. Obviously it was nesting nearby on the grounds of the Rochester Gas and Electric Environmental Lab, at the bottom of the Genesee River gorge off Suntru Street. But there were no trees, only a shed or two in the direction the bird was coming from. The birder waited, and the flicker soon returned – and flew into what appeared to be a nest box put up for kestrels, about six feet up on a telephone pole. If only all species could be confirmed so quickly for the Breeding Bird Atlas! This woodpecker – the one most likely to be seen foraging on the ground, probing ant hills for food – is unmistakable when it flies up, flashing white on the rump and yellow under the wings.
Background
Ornithologists and evolutionary biologists have been intrigued by this ground-foraging woodpecker for more than a century. The three subspecies that occur in the U.S., the so-called Yellow-shafted, Red-shafted and Gilded, “differ in several bright and contrasting plumage traits” – most noticeably the color of the wing shafts as seen from the underside. They were once considered separate species. Despite the flicker’s adaptability to urban and suburban settings, Yellow-shafted Flicker, in particular, showed an alarming decrease of 52 percent from 1966 to 1991, according to BBA data. Theories include competition from European Starlings for nest cavities, and declining availability of snags, dead limbs, and trees with heart rot that provide the soft wood this species needs for breeding. “Conserving the Northern Flicker is important because this is the primary predator on ants in woodland habitats and because it excavates a large percentage of the nest cavities used by numerous secondary cavity-nesting species,” William S. Moore notes in the profile of this species for The Birds of North America series. (BNA 166: 1-2, 23-24)
Local history
Eaton (1914) considered this “one of our dominant species,” an abundant summer resident in Monroe County and common in Livingston and Wayne counties, occasionally remaining year-round in Livingston. “While not so common as the Robin, it is one of the dozen birds well known to every country boy.” (Eaton II:160, I: county charts) R. E. Horsey, in his listing of birds seen at Rochester and Monroe County from 1913 to 1936, indicated average counts of two to 25 birds, with a maximum count of 75, on dates ranging from 3 March to 20 November. He indicated sightings of “1 or 2 at times in winter.” When Leo Tanghe analyzed sightings by Genesee Ornithological Society members from 1951 through 1954, this was the second most frequently encountered woodpecker, reported on 829 of 1,665 field trips within a 50-mile radius of Rochester, trailing only Downy Woodpecker, which appeared on 1,043. And that despite being primarily a migrant and summer resident. During the summer months it beat out even Downy. It was also reported 19 times during January and early February. (KB 5: 69: 4A-4B)In 1953, Tanghe listed this as a common breeding species in our area, listing Brighton and Island Cottage Wood as nesting locations. (GOS, May/August 1953)
Status
The Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as a regular, common summer resident and a regular, uncommon to fairly common winter visitant.Livingston County, Fox (1998) considered this a regular uncommon to rare winter visitant, a (presumably regular) common spring and fall transient and a regular fairly common summer resident.
Occurrence
Spring: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 28 February to 18 April, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 19 March to 3 April. Migrants sometimes form large flocks.
Spring maxima: 597 on 8 April 2007 (D. Tetlow) Parma to Carlton when record snowfalls pushed many grounded migrants to the roadsides. (LG, June 2007) 200 on 14 April 1969 (T. Tetlow) west lakeshore. (GNR) 263 on 14 April 1983 (R. Dobson et al) west spit Braddock Bay. (GOS, June/July 1983) 300+ flew by in one hour on 17 April 1982 (F. Dobson) Manitou. (GOS, June 1982) 100 on 24 April 1966 (Doherty, Miller, Phelps) east lakeshore. (GNR) 1,000 on 25 April 1965 flying “through the hedgerows back of Manitou Beach” in a “couple of hours” during a Genesee Ornithological Society field trip at Braddock Bay. (GNR; BA, 29 April 1965) Summer/breeding status: This was the only woodpecker, and one of only nine bird species of any kind, reported from every block assigned to Region 2 during the second Breeding Bird Atlas project. That does not necessarily mean it is our most abundant woodpecker, but it does indicate that it is one of our most visible, in large part because of its ground-feeding habits in a variety of settings, including urban and suburban areas.

Fall: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of departure dates from 4 October to 3 December, with a mid range, or “normal departure time” of 23 October to 8 November. On 18 and 26 September 1965 “weekend observers witnessed a spectacular influx . . . Hundreds of flickers were seen feeding on the ground or perched in trees all along the roadsides of the lakeshore region, from Hamlin State Park to Chimney Bluffs,” Kemnitzer reported. (WBR, 27 September 1965) Curiously there is no mention of this in either the Goshawk or Kingbird.
Fall maxima: 300 passed by “throughout the course of the day” on 15 September 1970 (Foster) at Lima. (GOS, Fox, p. 61) 100 on 21 September 1991 (F. and R. Dobson, Genesee Ornithological Society trip) Durand Eastman Park. (GOS, November 1991) 200 on 28 September 1976, no location given. (KB 27:36) Winter: Though this species is migratory, many linger through the winter. In fact, 712 were tallied on the Rochester Christmas Bird Counts from 1984 through 2003.

Winter maxima: 8 on 10 February 1974 (J. Connor) at Avon. (GOS, April 1974) 13 on 25 February 1979 (Lloyd, Levy) east lakeshore. (GOS, April 1979)
Misc. At one time the red-shafted western race, with rose or salmon colored wing linings was considered a separate species. On 6 October 1952, an injured flicker was picked up on Southland Drive that seemed to be a hybrid Northern X Red-shafted Flicker. “This bird has a salmon colored underside of the tail and three feathers of each wing also are salmon colored; otherwise it much resembles our common flicker,” Edson reported. (WBR, 13 October 1952)Four were banded here within about two years. Bill Symonds caught an intergrade Red-shafted X Yellow-shafted Flicker in his mist net at Clarkson on 17 May 1988. (LG, June 1988) An intergrade Red-shafted X Yellow-shafted Flicker was banded at Manitou by Betsy Brooks on 2 September 1988. (KB39: 40; LG, October 1988) One was also banded there on 23 September the year before. “The four outer primaries of both wings had rose-colored linings,” Frank Dobson reported. “The remaining flight feathers were yellow. The same pattern was present on the inner feathers.” (Birds, 27 December 1987) Another intergrade was banded by Brooks on 8 May 1990 at Braddock Bay. (LG, June 1990)

Pileated Woodpecker

Dryocopus pileatus
The case was a perplexing one. Clearly, somebody had tried to break into the Ingmire residence adjacent to Powder Mill Park while the family vacationed in 1986. The would-be burglar had apparently attempted entry through a casement window. Wood chips were scattered across the deck from the sash.“It was an amateurish job, though,” Frank Dobson noted, and as no entry had actually been made, the police simply wrote it up and promised to keep a close watch on the area. The “suspect” was identified a couple of days later when a loud knocking sounded from the damaged area. To their surprise, the homeowners found a “huge, black, red-crested woodpecker slamming away at the casement sash. Chips and chunks were flying every which way.”The family was stymied as to why a Pileated Woodpecker would keep hammering at their windows. The case wasn’t solved until Dobson alertly inquired if the family had noticed any cluster flies around the windows. Yes, they had. On warm days some of the windows had been covered. Insect spray was duly applied, and the Pileated ceased its damaging visits! (Birds, 1 June 1986) Under normal circumstances, “To see a woodpecker nearly as large as a crow come sailing through the air, alight on the side of a tree and start climbing about, clinging woodpecker fashion to the rough bark, is a sight that brings a thrill to even the oldest and most experienced bird student,” Edson noted in 1941. (WBR, 23 June 1941) It is a sight more and more birders and nonbirders alike are experiencing as this species rebounds from virtual extirpation in our region at century ago.
Background
This strikingly large woodpecker is dependent on large-diameter trees for nesting and roosting in its range, which extends across southern Canada, and includes the western, midwestern and eastern United States. Bill structure may help explain why Pileateds have persisted, while similar-sized Ivory-billeds disappeared: Ivory-billeds were better specialized to take advantage of larger larva in recently killed trees that were inaccessible to Pileateds. However, Pileateds, with a less chiseled bill, were better generalists and able to survive in a greater variety of habitat. Even so, this species was rare throughout the eastern U.S. by the late 1800s because of clearing of forests and persecution from hunters. Subsequent – and continuing – increase is due to protection and reforestation, and this species was probably also helped by Dutch elm disease. Its excavations play an important role in forest ecology, providing shelter and nest sites for many other birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates. (BNA 148: 1-2, 711: 9)
Local history
As Eaton noted in 1914, the deforestation that occurred after the arrival of European settlers forced this magnificent species to retreat to the Adirondacks, Catskills and a few remaining wooded areas in central and western New York. Even in the forests it was hunted relentlessly to the “point of extermination,” he added. “It probably will never be reestablished in the State except in the larger evergreen forests of the Canadian zone.” He listed no occurrences for Monroe, Livingston or Wayne counties. (Eaton II:152-153, I: county charts)The first sighting in Monroe County came on 10 May 1932 when “one bird was seen flying across the river and into Mount Hope,” Edson and Horsey reported. “This bird was seen by three parties of observers, five people, the same day. It seems probable that it followed the Genesee River down, as it is to be found in the upper reaches of this valley . . .” (“Pileated Woodpecker Seen For First Time in Monroe,” D&C, 16 May 1932) This was the only sighting in Horsey’s listing of birds seen at Rochester and Monroe County from 1913 to 1936.However, as more of the state reverted to woodland, there were increasing signs that this largest North American woodpecker was moving back into former territories. One spent about three hours removing the borers from an old apple tree stub in a Benton Street backyard in 1939, Edson reported. “But in the operation he reduced what was a support for the family clothes line to chips. The man of the house is now looking for a good second-hand clothes pole to take the place of the more picturesque apple stub.” (WBR, 1 May 1939) Another was seen “heading for Mt. Hope Cemetery” on 28 April 1940 by Don Nelson. (WBR, 6 May 1940) Even so, after the 1932 sighting, there had been only one to two reports a year in the Rochester area up to 1949, Edson reported. (WBR, 30 January 1961) It didn’t appear on the Rochester CBC until 1949. (GOS, November-December 1949)When 37 birders fanned out within a 50-mile radius of Rochester the following year to conduct a spring census, some 15,000 birds were tallied. Three Pileateds was considered a surprisingly high total. (GOS, April/May 1950) Nonetheless, this species was increasing in frequency here. When Leo Tanghe analyzed 1,665 outings by Genesee Ornithological Society members from 1951 through 1954, he found 59 sightings within a 50-mile radius of Rochester. But he still listed it as only a “rare” breeder in 1953, with the nearest confirmed nesting location at Conesus Lake. (GOS, May/August 1953)In June 1957 Jean Haller found a nest of this species “containing two well grown young” at the lake (unpublished GOS noteworthy sightings); the following January she tallied six in the Avon area. (GOS, March-May 1958) By 1959, no fewer than three pairs were being seen in and around Powder Mill Park, according to the park superintendent. (BA, 12 March 1959) “Now,” Edson wrote in 1961, “there are definite records of its nesting in the county.” (WBR, 30 January 1961) Indeed, John Brown wrote in his column that year, “The deep oblong excavations in tree trunks which mark the scenes of its food-hunting activities are to be found now in almost every fair-sized woods. (BA, 3 August 1961)“Possibly no single ornithological development of recent years excites more general, year-around comment than the gradual comeback of the Pileated woodpecker in Monroe County,” he added. In 1965, for example, Mrs. G. R. Wendt of East Lake Road, Honeoye, told Brown that “for the past two years we have had them at our feeder, never standing on the feeder itself, but hanging onto the tree while eating the suet. They are very amusing because after digging into the suet with their bills, they carefully wipe off the bill on the tree trunk.” (BA, 11 March 1965)Bull (1974) said that this species’ recovery in New York since Eaton’s time “has been phenomenal,” adding that “the one essential element is the presence of large trees.” (Bull, p. 352)By 1970 Pileateds were showing up in yards right around Rochester, and people who lived near county parks reported them “quite regularly.” (KB 20:78) That same year, Brown marveled at the adaptability of this bird, “reflected in the fact that it has re-established residence in Monroe County at a time when the county has been growing into a metropolitan area with burgeoning suburban developments, expressways, and shopping centers. In the face of this human presence it nests successfully in the county parks where it is most frequently seen – Ellison and Powder Mills.” (BA, 12 November 1970)
Status
The Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as an uncommon, permanent resident, but it is apparently still increasing.Livingston County, Fox (1998) considered this an uncommon permanent resident.
Occurrence
It is generally secretive and prefers larger wooded tracts, but can now be found visiting feeders even in suburban areas with relatively large woodlots. County and state parks are especially reliable places to see these birds. Dick O’Hara and the Dobson brothers were rewarded with four pileateds on a single tree trunk at Letchworth SP in 1988. (Birds, 3 July 1988) Even when the birds aren’t seen, their presence is betrayed by the large rectangular holes they excavate in tree trunks.
Breeding status: The BBA projects suggest this species is continuing to expand its presence in our region. It was already found in blocks throughout the region during the first project. By the second, it was being reported in even more blocks on the lake plain, especially in Wayne County.

The increase has also been registered on the three CBCs. Seven on the Little Lakes CBC on 2 January 1961 “indicates a gradual increase of the species in parts of our area,” Howard Miller reported (KB11: 46); on 30 December 2000 a total of 32 were found on the count. (KB51: 611) Fifteen set a new record in 2005 on the Rochester count.

Other maxima in addition to CBC tallies: 6 from 1-12 January 1958 (Haller) at Avon. (GOS, March/May 1958) 6 on 28 April 1984 (R. Dobson, Symonds) migrating at west spit, Braddock Bay. (GOS, June 1984) 12 on 24 January 2002 (D. Tetlow, Davids) at Rattlesnake Hill WMA. (GNR)
Misc.
While canvassing the Genesee River from Turning Point Park south for the 1984 Rochester CBC, Bob and Frank Dobson achieved a long-sought goal: seven woodpecker species in a single day. The last one was a Pileated Woodpecker “in a tangle of trees and vines . . . busy eating, of all things, wild grapes.” (Birds, 13 January 1985)

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