The Wonderful Woodpeckers of the Tuolumne River

One of the constant joys of birdwatching along the Tuolumne River along the Parkway Trail is the variety of woodpeckers who are almost ever-present along the walkway. Eight species of woodpecker have been reported in Stanislaus County. I see three of them on a constant basis, and I've seen two more species on rare occasions. The three I have yet to see are the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (very rare in our area), the Lewis's Woodpecker, and the Hairy Woodpecker.

Often the first one I will see or hear will be the Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus). A small colony of three or four of them live in a dead cottonwood tree near the west end of the trail. I often hear their distinctive call before I see them. They are usually busy hiding their precious acorns in the tree trunks, and spend a lot of time guarding their stores. Their faces make me think of clowns.

I often hear a chirp - chirp - chrrrchrrrrchrrrrr in the trees above the trail, high in the oak trees. It is a Nuttall's Woodpecker (Picoides nuttallii) which is about as close to being a California endemic species as a bird can be. They range just into the northern part of Baja, along with all of four sightings in Nevada, and a single sighting in Oregon. Although they are strongly associated with oak trees, they don't consume acorns. They are more interested in gleaning bugs from the furrows in the trunks of the trees.

The third of the common woodpeckers on the Tuolumne River is the Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus). They look less like "normal" woodpeckers, and behave differently in many ways as well. For one, they spend much of their time foraging for ants and beetles on the ground. I almost always hear their piercing call before I see them.

The "rare" woodpeckers, the ones I only see occasionally, include the Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescents), and the Red-breasted Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus ruber). I've only seen the Downy Woodpecker a half-dozen times in the past two years, and the Sapsucker only once, back in October. Across the entire county, there have only been a dozen or so reports of the Red-breasted Sapsucker this year (and none at all of the Yellow-breasted variety).

The sighting of Downy Woodpecker this morning was what got me thinking about how often I see woodpeckers along the Tuolumne Parkway Trail. I didn't get a clear picture this time, but I've included a picture from a few years ago. The Downy (and similar Hairy) Woodpeckers are similar to the Nuttall's Woodpecker overall, but the Nuttall's have bars across their back while the others have a vertical white band.

We've seen 116 species of birds on the Tuolumne trail this year. If you are patient (and willing the climb the stairway), it's a great place to practice your birdwatching skills.

Downy Woodpecker on the Tuolumne River Parkway Trail

Some days on the Tuolumne River are quiet, and I won't see any birds of note. Other times I will see a new species that I haven't seen before along the trail. My short walk last week felt like the former but turned out to be the latter. As I was wrapping up my stroll, I saw a new bird on the dead cottonwood. It turned out to be a Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens). These are the smallest of the woodpeckers, and are described as very active. That seemed apt; I got lots of pictures, but most were blurry. Not the scene, but the bird itself.

It climbed over and under the dead branches looking for insects. It finally posed for a couple of pictures, and then flew to the adjacent tree, where I saw that it had company!

The Downy Woodpecker is common and ranges widely across North America from Alaska to the Mexican border and the Eastern Seaboard. Obviously, I should be seeing them more often!

Downy Woodpecker at Turlock Lake Campground

Okay, I was half-joking when I said in the last post that I would try to capture photos of a Downy Woodpecker for the next post, but that turned out to be what happened. We made a short excursion out to Turlock Lake in the afternoon to see what was out and about, and down in the campground area there was a Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) in the tree above us.

The Downy Woodpecker is among the smallest of the Woodpecker family, and size is one of the ways one can distinguish it from the similar Hairy Woodpecker. The bill is shorter, too. It looks a bit like a Nuttall's Woodpecker, but the Downy has a white patch on the back, as today's did.

As is my usual pattern, I got a very fuzzy picture on the first attempt (two days ago), barely enough to identify it, and on the second try (today's attempt), I got sharper pictures, but not great ones (then again, do I ever?). Next time they will be marvelous!

The Downy Woodpecker is common and ranges widely across North America from Alaska to the Mexican border and the Eastern Seaboard. They are mainly missing in the deserts of the southwest. Which means I should have noticed them a long time ago!

Speaking of getting sharper, nicer pictures on the third sighting, check out the nice sharp sunlit photo of a Northern Flicker that was hanging out in the next tree over from the Downy Woodpecker. It was in interesting day, and a few more birds from this afternoon will make an appearance on the blog.