Nuttall's Woodpecker - Female 7243

Ethan A. Winning
recent  |  interesting  |  random  |  favorites  |  contacts  |  sets  |  tags:  
Nuttall's Woodpecker - Female 7243
Nuttall's Woodpecker - Female 7243

It's Woodpecker Wednesday, and once again I present the second most numberous pecker in the oak woodlands of northern California, the Nuttall's. Nuttall's woodpecker (Dryobates nuttallii) is a species of woodpecker named after naturalist Thomas Nuttall in 1843. They are found in oak woodlands of California and are similar to the ladder-backed woodpecker in both genetics and appearance.

Nuttall's woodpecker feeds primarily on insect larvae such as those of wood borers, click beetles, and ants, found by tapping and probing into the crevices in oak trees. The bird also feeds on sap from sap holes created by red-breasted sapsuckers in birch and willow, and consumes a variety of berry seeds.

Pair bonding occurs in late January to March with egg-laying mostly in April and May. Nuttall's woodpeckers are socially monogamous and show displays of bi-parental care. New nests are excavated each year by males in the cavities of dead trees such as willow, oak, and alder. As my wife and I made our walking loop around our community, we came upon the oak that had fallen last Thursday. We did not expect to see a female Nuttall's already working on the tree for two reasons: First, this was the male, and all three of the Nuttall's that we'd previously seen (since 2012) excavating nests were females. I'll have to look into that further, but I even have a video of first nest builder. And second, as with most woodpeckers, they make their nests in dead, but upright trunks of trees. My guess is that today's woodpecker was not excavatiung a nest, but just looking for grubs and sap from firs and eucalyptus that are oozing right now and fairly early this spring.

By the way, woodpeckers are among the most difficult birds to photograph. They constantly move (and have toes and feet for doing so) up, down, and all round the trunks of trees pecking up bark looking for grubs. Those that are sapsuckers are probably twice as active as the insect eaters, making as many as 75 holes girdling the tree and then repeating even three of four inches before the move on to another tree. The Nuttall's we say today was at least 50 feet away, so it was out of range anyway. But there will be more this summer.

© All Rights Reserved
Taken on: March 1, 2011
Sets appears in:   • Woodpeckers, Sapsuckers, and Flickers   
Groups appears in:   • Woodpeckers    • The Magic of Nature    more » • Nature, wildlife, and the great outdoors    • Birding In The Wild    • Wild Nature    • Photographing Birds    • Earth Images Nature Photography    • Bird Portraits    • Nature For All: Flora & Fauna    • Wild Birds of North America    • Woodpeckers - All Woodpeckers - Only Woodpeckers    « less
Camera: Canon PowerShot SX20 IS, f/5.7, 1/1000 sec, 100mm, ISO 200 (more info) (hide info)
Camera: Canon PowerShot SX20 IS
Aperture: f/5.7
Exposure Time: 0.001 sec (1/1000)
Focal Length: 100mm
ISO: 200
Exposure Bias: +1 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire
Exposure Mode: Manual
Metering Mode: Multi-segment
White Balance: Auto
Color Space: sRGB
Software: ACDSee Professional 2022
Show full info
Stats: 2,498 views / 24 comments