Acorn Woodpecker
Conservation status
Least Concern
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Piciformes Family: Picidae Genus: Melanerpes Species: M. The conservation status of a Species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species remaining extant either in the present day or the near future Least Concern ( LC) is an IUCN category assigned to extant species or lower taxa which have been evaluated but do not qualify for any other category Chordates ( Phylum Chordata) are a group of Animals that includes the Vertebrates together with several closely related Invertebrates Birds ( class Aves) are bipedal endothermic ( Warm-blooded) Vertebrate animals that lay eggs. Six families of largely arboreal Birds make up the order Piciformes, the best-known of them being the Picidae which includes the Woodpeckers Melanerpes is a Genus of Woodpeckers of the family Picidae. Species of Melanerpes formicivorus
Binomial name
Melanerpes formicivorus (Swainson, 1827)

The Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus) is a medium-sized woodpecker, 21 cm long with an average weight of 85 g. The woodpeckers, piculets and wrynecks are a family, Picidae, of Near-passerine Birds.

The adult has a black head, back, wings and tail, white forehead, throat, belly and rump. The eyes are white. The adult male has a red cap starting at the forehead, whereas females have a black area between the forehead and the cap. The white neck, throat and forehead patches are distinctive identifiers.

Breeding communities

The breeding habitat is forested areas with oaks in the hills of coastal California and the southwestern United States south to Colombia. The term oak can be used as part of the common name of any of about 400 species of Trees and Shrubs in the Genus Quercus (from Latin The Southwestern area of the United States could be defined as the states west of the Mississippi River, with the qualification of a certain northern limit such as the 37 The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Colombia (kəˈlʌmbɪə officially the Republic of Colombia () is a country in northwestern South America. This species may occur at low elevations in the north of its range, but rarely below 1000m in Central America, and it breeds up to the timberline. The breeding pair excavate a nest in a large cavity in a dead tree or a dead part of a tree. A group of adults may participate in nesting activities: Field studies have shown that breeding groups range from monogamous pairs to breeding collectives of seven males and three females, plus up to 10 nonbreeding helpers. Cooperative breeding is a Social system in which individuals help Care for young that are not their own Helpers at the nest is a term used in Behavioural ecology and Evolutionary biology to describe a social structure in which juveniles of one or both sexes remain Young have been found with multiple paternity. ^[1]

Acorn Woodpeckers are larder hoarders. Breeding groups gather acorns and create a granary by drilling holes in a dead tree, or a dead branch on a live tree, and stuffing acorns into them. The acorns are visible, and the group defends the tree against potential cache robbers. The acorns represent a significant part of their diet; they also eat insects, picking them off tree bark or catching them in flight, and in addition fruit, seeds and sometimes tree sap.

This bird is a permanent resident throughout its range. They may relocate to another area if acorns are not readily available. The acorn is the nut of the Oak tree (genera Quercus, Lithocarpus and Cyclobalanopsis, in the It is sedentary and very sociable.

References

1. ^ Joste, N. , Ligon, D. , and Stacey, P. (1985) Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology; Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 17(1):39-41

• BirdLife International (2004). Melanerpes formicivorus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data List) created in 1963 is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 10 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
• Haydock J. , Koenig W. D. , & Stanback, M. T. (2001). Shared parentage and incest avoidance in the cooperatively breeding acorn woodpecker. Molecular Ecology, 10, 1515-1525.
• Stiles, F Gary & Alexander Frank Skutch (1989), written at Ithaca, New York, A guide to the birds of Costa Rica, Comstock, ISBN 0-8014-2287-6

External links

• Cornell Lab of Ornithology species account
• Acorn Woodpecker, a bibliographic resource
• USGS
• Acorn Woodpecker videos on the Internet Bird Collection
• Stamps (for El Salvador, Mexico) with RangeMap
• Acorn Woodpecker photo gallery VIREO-(distinctive white face-throat patches)
• Photo-High Res FWS-Fish & Wildlife Service: Digital Repository

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