Habitat Utilization by Four Species of Woodpeckers in a Central Illinois Woodland

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.ABSTRACT: A sympatric guild consisting of the red-headed woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus), the downy woodpecker) (Dendrocopus pubescens), the red-bellied woodpecker (Centurus carolinus) and the yellow-bellied sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) segregated realized niches by: (1) differential foraging techniques; (2) exploiting different height classes; (3) selection of different tree species; (4) use of relative different amounts of alive and dead substrate; (5) differential selection of limb size.In downy woodpeckers, sexes separated the species' realized niche into subniches, which in the past may have caused evolution of different bill structures.Yellow-bellied sapsuckers exploited primarily a sap resource from hickory trees while in wigration. They foraged on larger limbs at lower levels.Red-headed woodpeckers had a more restricted woodland foraging pattern than did downies and red-bellied woodpeckers. Red-heads, however, spent more time out of the wooded area.Intersexual overlap values for the sexually dimorphic downies were greater than interspecific values.

Resource partitioning among woodpeckers in northeastern Oregon.

“…Each 3-hour observation period took place within 6 hours of sunrise in order to include periods of intense feeding activity. Individual woodpeckers were observed for a maximum of 15 minutes to prevent sampling bias (Williams 1975). A new feeding site was recorded each time a woodpecker under observation moved between trees or more than 1 m on the same tree.…”

“…Different foraging activities presumably result in the acquisition of different prey (Williams 1975). Foraging activities were significantly different among all woodpecker species except the hairy and black-backed woodpeckers.…”

“…Foraging activities were significantly different among all woodpecker species except the hairy and black-backed woodpeckers. In Illinois, Williams (1975) found the foraging activities of four woodpecker species to be significantly different and felt this allowed coexistence by reducing competition for food. Differentiation of foraging behavior was the major factor that permitted different woodpecker species to coexist in ponderosa pine forests in Colorado (Stallcup 1968).…”

Bird populations in east central Illinois : fluctuations, variations, and development over a half-century

“…of all elm trees were dead (Carter and Carter, 1974 (Brown, 1971 ;Temple and Temple, 1976 (Lawrence, 1967;Willson, 1970;Reller, 1972;Williams, 1975;Williams and Batzli, 1979a, b). Populations varied Increase in numbers of woodpeckers was probably a response to more insect food as the trees rotted and to abundant possibilities for excavating nesting and roosting cavities.…”

Orientation of Sap Wells Excavated by Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers

“…The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) is a small-medium, migratory woodpecker (21-22 cm) that breeds throughout Canada and portions of the northern United States and overwinters throughout much of Mexico, the eastern United States, and Canada (Howell 1952, Walters et al 2002. The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, like other North American woodpeckers, forages on a variety of foods including fruits and insects; however, sapsuckers are also known to consume sap as a primary food source (Beal 1911, Howell 1952, Tate 1973, Williams 1975, Wilkins 2001, Walters et al 2002. Sapsuckers in winter and early spring, obtain sap from small, circular wells excavated in the xylem tissue of trees (Foster andTate 1966, Tate 1973).…”