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Information about Acorn Woodpecker

Acorn Woodpecker

Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Piciformes
Family:Picidae
Genus:Melanerpes
Species:M. 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 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. 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. Young have been found with multiple paternity.[1]
Enlarge picture
Acorn hoarded by Acorn Woodpecker
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. 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. 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), A guide to the birds of Costa Rica, Ithaca, New York: Comstock, ISBN 0-8014-2287-6

External links

conservation status of a species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species continuing to survive either in the present day or the future. Many factors are taken into account when assessing the conservation status of a species: not simply the number remaining, but the
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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. As such they do not qualify as threatened, nor Near Threatened, nor (prior to 2001) Conservation Dependent.
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Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Chordata
Bateson, 1885

Typical Classes

See below

Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates.
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Aves
Linnaeus, 1758

Orders

About two dozen - see section below

Birds (class Aves) are bipedal, warm-blooded, egg-laying vertebrate animals.
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Piciformes
Meyer & Wolf, 1810

Families
Galbulidae
Bucconidae
Capitonidae
Ramphastidae
Picidae
Indicatoridae
For prehistoric taxa, see text

Six families of largely arboreal birds make up the order Piciformes
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Picidae
Vigors, 1825

Genera

About 30, see text

The avian family Picidae includes the woodpeckers, piculets and wrynecks. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, Madagascar, and the extreme polar regions.
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binomial nomenclature is the formal system of naming species. The system is also called binominal nomenclature (particularly in zoological circles), binary nomenclature (particularly in botanical circles), or the binomial classification system.
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William John Swainson FLS, FRS (October 8, 1789 - December 6, 1855), was an English ornithologist, malacologist, conchologist, entomologist and artist.

Swainson was born in Dover Place, St.
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Picinae

Genera

Melanerpes
Sphyrapicus
Xiphidiopicus
Dendropicos
Dendrocopos
Picoides
Veniliornis
Campethera
Geocolaptes
Dinopium

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Quercus
L.

Species

See List of Quercus species

The term oak can be used as part of the common name of any of several hundred species of trees and shrubs in the genus Quercus
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Southwestern United States; commonly referred to as The Southwest; is a region of the western United States. Its population is less than three people per cubic mile.
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Motto
"In God We Trust"   (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
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Motto
"Libertad y Orden"   (Spanish)
"Liberty and Order"
Anthem
Oh, Gloria Inmarcesible!
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Central America (Spanish: Centroamérica or América Central) is a central geographic region of the Americas. It is variably defined either as the southern portion of North America, which connects with South America on the southeast, or a region of
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Cooperative breeding is a social system in which individuals help care for young that are not their own. The non-parental care givers (alloparents) may be other reproducing adults, as in the case of lionesses who litter at the same time nursing and caring for their cubs communally;
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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 in association with their parents and help them in raising subsequent broods or litters, instead of dispersing and
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The acorn is the fruit of the oak tree (genera Quercus, Lithocarpus and Cyclobalanopsis, in the family Fagaceae). It is a nut, containing a single seed (rarely two seeds), enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne in a cup-shaped cupule.
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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 conservation status of plant and animal species.
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IUCN

International Organization
Founded October 1948, Fontainebleau, France
Headquarters Rue Mauverney 28, 1196 Gland, Switzerland

Key people Mr Valli Moosa
Ms Julia Marton-Lefèvre
Industry Natural resource conservation
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Ithaca
Ιθάκ?

Vathi, South Ithaca
Geography

Island Chain: Ionian Islands
Area:[1] 117.812 km (0 sq.mi.
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State of New York

Flag of New York Seal
Nickname(s): The Empire State
Motto(s): Excelsior!

Official language(s) None

Capital Albany
Largest city New York City

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Motto
"Dios, Unión, Libertad"   (Spanish)
"God, Union, Liberty"
Anthem
Himno Nacional de El Salvador
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Anthem
Himno Nacional Mexicano


Capital
(and largest city) Mexico City

Official languages Spanish (
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