Page 21 - OutdoorOK2024MayJune ONLINE

FOUR REMARKABLE WOODPECKER SIGHTINGS

In early July, Howery returned to the Vinson Breeding Bird Atlas sur-
vey block to monitor the area’s breeding birds for the third and final “One of the weird things about
time of the season. That day, he saw 38 species and had confirmation of flickers is that juveniles have
breeding activity for 12 species, including four species of woodpecker.
male plumage as their first

SIGHTING ONE plumage. I don’t know of another
“I saw a pair of golden-fronted woodpeckers carrying food in their bird that does this — most

bills as they flew through a wooded draw,” Howery said. The bird closely juveniles look like the females in
resembles the more common red-bellied woodpecker, but is rarely spot- their first year.”
ted in the state outside of the southwestern region. Howery only observed
the birds on his third trip to the atlas block.

SIGHTING TWO
Red-headed woodpecker. “Then I saw a pair of red-headed wood- MICK THOMPSON CC BY-NC 2.0
peckers doing the same thing. They were
right by the road, and I could see them
carrying food to a hole in a dead cot-
tonwood.” Of the four woodpecker spe-
cies documented in this atlas block, the
red-headed woodpecker was the most
consistent. “I saw four to five birds on each
of the three trips.

SIGHTING THREE

“Then I saw a family group of northern
flickers — there was an adult pair and three
fledglings with dark mustaches. One of the
weird things about flickers is that juveniles
have male plumage as their first plumage. I
don’t know of another bird that does this —
most juveniles look like the females in their
first year.” The flickers, the most common
and widespread of the four woodpeckers
spotted during the survey, were seen on
Howery’s first and third surveys, in the same
area of the atlas block.

SIGHTING FOUR
“About two-and-a-half hours later, I was circling back through a small Ladder-backed woodpecker.
grove of mesquite trees at the end of the route and saw a family group
of ladder-backed woodpeckers. There were two adults and two fledg-
lings on both sides of the road.” Ladder-backed woodpeckers are small
in size and prefer arid habitats.
All told, Howery spotted 47 bird species in the Vinson survey block during
the 2023 breeding season and confirmed the nesting status of 22 species.

MAY/JUNE 2024 19