Rare Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers at James W. Webb Wildlife Center & Game Management Area by Karen Marts in 2014

Earlier this year I ventured to the Francis Marion National Forest with Kathy Greider, current program director for The Hilton Head Island Audubon

Society, along with her husband Grant. We were on a quest to see the rare Red-Cockaded Woodpecker. Quite frankly, I had never even heard of

that species.  Most woodpeckers build their homes in dead trees called snags, because the wood is soft from rot. Surprisingly, the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker

is the only bird in North America that excavates a cavity in living pine trees.  In the southeastern United States, the Longleaf Pine is the preferred tree to make

cavities. Unlike the outer few inches of soft sapwood, the inner portion of older Longleaf Pines are a very dense wood called heartwood. The woodpeckers

seek out trees that are 80-120 years old. The trees must suffer from a fungus called red heart disease, which cause the inner wood of the tree to rot. Once a suitable mature tree is found, it can take 1-3 years for the woodpecker to construct a cavity.  Generally these birds will excavate groups of cavity trees in one area called a cluster.

Because Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers are endangered, nesting trees are marked with a white band. Oftentimes artificial cavities are installed to help stabilize the population, and translocation of a juvenile is used as a management technique for recovery goals. We never saw the bird we were seeking on the trip.

Fast-forward to November 10, 2013, when suddenly I had the great opportunity to travel to James W. Webb Wildlife Center and Game Management Area in Garnett, SC. A fellow birder had given me a tip that this was a prime spot for woodpeckers.  I had never visited the area, and was keen on filming what would end up being a new species to add to my Life List.  The Red-Cockaded Woodpecker is a “keystone” species, meaning that the nest cavities built by the birds play a vital role in supporting 27 species of vertebrates. The list includes Chickadees, Bluebirds, Titmice, Downy, Hairy, and Red-bellied Woodpeckers, and several larger woodpeckers such as Pileated and Northern Flickers.  The holes can be enlarged to accommodate raccoons, Eastern Screech Owls, and Wood Ducks.  Reptiles, Flying Squirrels, amphibians, and insects all rely on the primary cavity nester. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service published a pamphlet in 2002 about the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker, which I picked up at the Sewee Visitor & Environmental Education Center, in Awendaw, South Carolina. It mentions that the woodpeckers were at one time considered common throughout the Longleaf Pine ecosystem, which encompassed 90 million acres prior to European settlement.  Historical population estimates of the “groups”, or family units, numbered about one million. The birds inhabited open pine forests from New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, and Florida, west to Texas, and north to Oklahoma, Missouri, Tennessee, and Kentucky. With European settlements in the 1700’s, widespread commercial timber harvesting, naval stores and the turpentine industry in the 1800’s, the pine trees were wiped out. Additionally commercial tree farming, urbanization, and farming caused further decline of the specialized

habitat of the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker. Today it is estimated only 5,000 groups are left, with the woodpecker being extinct (extirpated) in several states.

The birds are black and white with a black cap and nape that encircle white cheek patches. Its back is barred with black and white horizontal stripes.  Males have a small red patch of feathers on the sides of their head, called a “cockcade”, and it is visible only during courtship or periods of territorial defense. During the American Revolution patriots from the south wore bright red feathers, or “cockcades”, in their caps to show their defiance.  The song Yankee Doodle Dandy featured a line, “stuck a feather in his cap”, to recall this practice.  I spent five hours driving and birding around the managed forest of the Webb Wildlife Center, which is designated as an Important Bird Area. The 5,866 acres offers 40 miles of roads and trails that wind around stands of pine trees, bottomland hardwood forests, and Cypress-Tupelo swamps.  I saw 2 White-tailed deer, Wild Turkeys, and a Fox Squirrel.  I was most fascinated by the lines of sap dripping down the Longleaf Pine trees, which are created by the Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers chipping small holes into the bark, known as resin wells.  The amber sap decorated the trees like stalactites, with little globes of gold hanging at the end, shining in the sunlight.   According to The Longleaf Alliance, the wells cause gum to ooze down the tree which is a defense behavior toward rat snakes, the primary predator of the woodpeckers. The snakes are agile tree climbers, but when their scales come in contact with the sap, the snakes retreat. 

After a peaceful picnic lunch alongside a swamp lined with Bald Cypress trees, I drove past fields, attempted to photograph miniscule birds that flitted in and out of thick shrubbery, and finally located a large stand of pine trees that were protected for woodpecker nesting.  There is only one breeding pair of birds per cluster. Male helper birds from the previous nesting season participate in incubating the eggs, as well as raise the next generation.   Throughout history, frequent fires from lightening helped maintain a park-like forest in the Longleaf Pine stands, with more open land between the trees.  These conditions are favorable for beetles, ants, roaches, caterpillars, and wood-boring insects, which are part of the woodpecker’s diet.

Many managed forests today will schedule prescribed burns.  Longleaf Pine trees are resistant to fire, and have seedlings that appear in the “grass stage” resembling a fountain of needles. This stage lasts 5 - 12 years. A long taproot grows underground, with a lateral root system forming to support the 100 – 115 feet tall trees. The trees then go through the “rocket stage”, growing 4 feet per year.  Because of the specialized habitat needed for Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers to thrive, the Webb Wildlife Center will play an integral role in the success of the conservation of the species. Without human intervention Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers will not survive. It is my hope to create an awareness of a rare and unique bird living in South Carolina.