Red-headed woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 2

Executive Summary

Red-headed Woodpecker
Melanerpes Erythrocephalus

Species information

The Red-headed Woodpecker is approximately 20 cm long and is easily recognized by its crimson head, neck, throat, and upper breast, which contrast with its white underparts and black upperparts. Large white patches, formed by the inner secondaries and tertials, are visible on the wings. The two sexes are similar in appearance. The young can be distinguished by the colour of their heads and necks and the upper part of their breasts, which range from brownish-grey to crimson.

Distribution

The Red-headed Woodpecker occurs only in North America. In Canada, its range includes southern Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec. In the United States, it ranges from the Great Plains to New England and south to the Gulf states. The Red-headed Woodpecker regularly winters in the southern two-thirds of its breeding range.

Habitat

The Red-headed Woodpecker is found in a variety of habitats, including oak and beech forests, grasslands, forest edges, orchards, pastures, riparian forests, roadsides, urban parks, golf courses, cemeteries, beaver ponds and burns.

Biology

The Red-headed Woodpecker is monogamous. Clutch size varies from three to seven eggs, with an average of four. Both sexes incubate and incubation generally lasts 12 to 14 days. The young remain in the nest for 27 to 30 days. The Red-headed Woodpecker is probably the most omnivorous species of woodpecker in North America, feeding on insects in summer and on acorns and beechnuts in winter.

Population sizes and trends

Population estimates based on the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) suggest the current population of Red-headed Woodpeckers in Canada is approximately 5,000 breeding pairs or 10,000 mature individuals. This is, however, likely to be a maximum. Minimum estimates suggest that the population could be as low as 700 breeding pairs or 1,400 mature individuals. In Canada, long-term trend analyses based on BBS data show a significant decline of 3.4%/year between 1968 and 2005, which amounts to a 70% decrease in the population over the last 37 years. Short-term analyses based on the same methods show a non-significant decline of 0.70%/year between 1995 and 2005. At this rate of decline the population would have decreased by 7% in the most recent 10-year period. Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas data suggest that Red-headed Woodpecker populations in that province have declined by 64% between 1985 and 2005. A continuing decline in population is expected with the ongoing loss and degradation of habitat (see below).

Limiting factors and threats

Historically, one of the main reasons for the decline of the Red-headed Woodpecker was the significant reduction in the vast stands of mature hardwoods, such as oak and beech, following European settlement. These trees produced an abundance of acorns and nuts, the species’ primary food source in winter. More recent threats include loss of nesting and roosting sites as large dead trees are removed from urban and agricultural areas and also the reduction in beechnuts, an important food source through the winter, as American beech trees succumb to disease.

Special significance of the species

This species is important to the maintenance of biodiversity because the cavities it excavates in trees provide sleeping and nesting sites for many other species. It also plays a significant role in maintaining the deciduous forest ecosystems of eastern North America by dispersing large quantities of acorns and beechnuts during feeding.

Existing protection

Globally, the Red-headed Woodpecker species is considered secure by the IUCN.  In Canada, the species, its nests, and its eggs are protectedunder the Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994. COSEWIC designated the species as Special Concern in 1996. NatureServe ranks the species as critically imperiled in Saskatchewan, secure and vulnerable in Manitoba, vulnerable in Ontario, and threatened in Quebec. In Ontario, the Ministry of Natural Resources has designated it a species of special concern and it appears on the provincial species at risk list. In Quebec, the species is on the list of species of vertebrate wildlife likely to be designated threatened or vulnerable.

COSEWIC History

The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) was created in 1977 as a result of a recommendation at the Federal-Provincial Wildlife Conference held in 1976. It arose from the need for a single, official, scientifically sound, national listing of wildlife species at risk. In 1978, COSEWIC designated its first species and produced its first list of Canadian species at risk. Species designated at meetings of the full committee are added to the list.  On June 5, 2003, the Species at Risk Act (SARA) was proclaimed. SARA establishes COSEWIC as an advisory body ensuring that species will continue to be assessed under a rigorous and independent scientific process.

COSEWIC Mandate

The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) assesses the national status of wild species, subspecies, varieties, or other designatable units that are considered to be at risk in Canada. Designations are made on native species for the following taxonomic groups: mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, arthropods, molluscs, vascular plants, mosses, and lichens.

COSEWIC Membership

COSEWIC comprises members from each provincial and territorial government wildlife agency, four federal entities (Canadian Wildlife Service, Parks Canada Agency, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and the Federal Biodiversity Information Partnership, chaired by the Canadian Museum of Nature), three non-government science members and the co-chairs of the species specialist subcommittees and the Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge subcommittee. The Committee meets to consider status reports on candidate species. 

Definitions

Wildlife Species
A species, subspecies, variety, or geographically or genetically distinct population of animal, plant or other organism, other than a bacterium or virus, that is wild by nature and is either native to Canada or has extended its range into Canada without human intervention and has been present in Canada for at least 50 years.

Extinct (X)
A wildlife species that no longer exists.

Extirpated (XT)
A wildlife species no longer existing in the wild in Canada, but occurring elsewhere.

Endangered (E)
A wildlife species facing imminent extirpation or extinction.

Threatened (T)
A wildlife species likely to become endangered if limiting factors are not reversed.

Special Concern (SC)Footnotea
A wildlife species that may become a threatened or an endangered species because of a combination of biological characteristics and identified threats.

Not at Risk (NAR)Footnoteb
A wildlife species that has been evaluated and found to be not at risk of extinction given the current circumstances.

Data Deficient (DD)Footnotec
A category that applies when the available information is insufficient (a) to resolve a species' eligibility for assessment or (b) to permit an assessment of the species' risk of extinction.

Canadian Wildlife Service

The Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada, provides full administrative and financial support to the COSEWIC Secretariat.

Footnote a

Formerly described as "Vulnerable" from 1990 to 1999, or "Rare" prior to 1990.

Formerly described as "Not In Any Category", or "No Designation Required."

Footnote c

Formerly described as "Indeterminate" from 1994 to 1999 or "ISIBD" (insufficient scientific information on which to base a designation) prior to 1994. Definition of the (DD) category revised in 2006.

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