Woodpeckers of PEI
Yellow-bellied sapsucker
Woodpeckers of Prince Edward Island
Welcome to Woodpeckers of PEI page. There are a total of nine woodpecker species that can be found on PEI. Some are very rare like the red-headed woodpecker, while others are common, such as the northern flicker. Some stay over winter like the downy and hairy woodpecker, while others like the yellow-bellied sapsucker, are only found during summer. Woodpeckers play and important role in maintaining healthy forested habitats and fill an important ecological niche as cavity creators in trees.
When your finished learning about woodpeckers, make sure to visit:
The Importance of Wildlife Trees
Dead trees (they're still full of life!)
Facts about Woodpeckers
Classification:
- Order Piciformes
- Family Picidae (near-passerine birds)
- 200 species, 30 genera
- found worldwide, except for Australia and polar regions
- most found in forest/woodland habitats
- earliest fossil evidence of woodpecker-like birds was about 25 - 50 million years ago
Characteristics:
- stiffened tails, used as prop
- strong bills for drilling
- long tongues for extracting food
- special adaptations for drilling and the effects of
- zygodactyl feet - consists of 4 toes, foot arrangement good for grasping trunks/limbs of trees
- can walk vertically up trees
- some are migratory, others sedentary
Ecology:
- help keep trees healthy by keeping them from mass infestations of bugs
- insects big part of diet
- tree sap for some (sapsucker)
- nest in tree cavities, drill new holes each year
- due to demand of tree cavities, competition an issue
- very important ecologically for secondary cavity nesters
Reproduction:
- usually monogamous
- usually male build nest, incubate, and raise young
- 2-5 eggs, white as no need for camouflaged
- incubate 11-14 days
- 18 - 30 days for young to leave next
Links
Woodpecker Species of PEI
Red-headed Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Three-toed Woodpecker
Black-backed Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
|
Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus)
The chances of locating this species on PEI is:
|
|
Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus)
The chances of locating this species on PEI is:
|
|
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius)
The chances of locating this species on PEI is:
|
|
Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens)
The chances of locating this species on PEI is:
|
|
Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus)
The chances of locating this species on PEI is:
|
|
Three-toed Woodpecker (Picoides tridactylus)
The chances of locating this species on PEI is:
|
|
Black-backed Woodpecker (Picoides arcticus)
The chances of locating this species on PEI is:
|
|
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)
The chances of locating this species on PEI is:
|
|
Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus)
The chances of locating this species on PEI is:
|
VC - Very common, 50 or more birds per day C - Common, 10 - 49 birds per day FC - Fairly common, 1 - 9 birds per day U - Uncommon, 1 - 12 birds per fortnight R - Rare, 1 - 5 birds per season O - Occasional, seen only 1 - 9 times per decade A - Accidental, 9 or fewer records per century The chances of finding this species was adapted from the PEI Bird Checklist All woodpecker photos are from Wikipedia and are used under their licensing terms.
