Habitat:Red-bellied woodpeckers are common throughout southeastern forest types. This bird has habits similar to those of the red-headed woodpecker, except that the red-headed prefers open woodlands, farm yards, and field edges whereas the red-bellied prefers larger expanses of forest. Bailey and Niedrach (1965) reported that the red-bellied woodpecker is extending its range westward up the river valleys of the Great Plains.
Nest:These woodpeckers most commonly excavate nest holes in dead limbs of living trees. Excavations were found in a wide variety of tree species, and ranged from 33 to 72 feet above ground (Reller 1972). Cavities are usually located in mature timber stands. Between September and January, males and females roost in separate holes. Often one of the roost holes (usually that of the female) becomes the nest site (Kilham 1958).
Food:Although primarily insectivorous, red-bellied woodpeckers consume more vegetable matter than most woodpeckers. Insects that are eaten include ants, adult and larval beetles, and caterpillars. Vegetation eaten includes grain, berries, and fruits of holly, dogwood, and poison ivy. Acorns and berries are stored in crevices in the fall (Kilham 1963, Bent 1939).
Melanerpes aurifrons
L 8½″
Habitat:The golden-fronted woodpecker’s preferred habitat is mesquite and riparian woodlands in Texas and Oklahoma. Cooke (1888) listed this species as an abundant resident of the lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas, in 1884.
Nest:Nesting behavior of the golden-fronted is similar to that of the red-bellied woodpecker (Pearson 1936). Tall trees of pecan, oak, and mesquite are the major species used for nesting (Bent 1939). Occasionally fence posts, telephone poles, and bird boxes are used (Reed 1965).
Food:The diet of the golden-fronted woodpecker consists of both insects and vegetable matter. Grasshoppers make up more than half of the animal matter and other insects include beetles and ants (Pearson 1936, Bent 1939). Vegetable matter consumed consists of corn, acorns, wild fruits, and berries (Bent 1939).
Melanerpes uropygialis
L 8¼″
Habitat:This woodpecker is found on desert mesas in association with creosote bush, mesquite, and saguaro cactus from central Arizona to edges of adjacent states. It is also common in river bottoms and in foothill canyons among cottonwoods, willows, and sycamores.
Nest:The Gila woodpecker excavates holes in saguaro cacti for nests. Cottonwoods, willows, and mesquites are also used at higher elevations (Bent 1939, Ligon 1961).
Food:The diet of the Gila woodpecker consists of ants, beetles, grasshoppers, fruits from saguaro cactus, and mistletoe berries (Bent 1939). This woodpecker has been reported to remove eggs from the nests of various songbirds.
Melanerpes erythrocephalus
L 7½″
Habitat:Red-headed woodpeckers prefer to nest and roost in open areas. Farmyards, field edges, and timber stands that have been treated with herbicides or burned are preferred habitats. Redheads are attracted to areas with many dead snags and lush herbaceous ground cover, but not to woods with closed canopies. They are found throughout the East and along wooded streams of the prairie to eastern Colorado and Wyoming. Competition for nesting space is often intensive where starlings are abundant (Bailey and Niedrach 1965).
Nest:Red-headed woodpeckers most commonly excavate holes in the trunks of dead trees. Holes are excavated from 24 to 65 feet above the ground and the 1.8-inch diameter entrance hole often faces south or west (Reller 1972). These woodpeckers may excavate new holes each year, or use old nest sites.
Food:Red-headed woodpeckers consume about half animal matter (mostly insects) and half vegetable matter. Occasionally the eggs or the young of other birds are destroyed. Although a wide variety of vegetable matter is consumed, acorns from pin oak comprise a large portion of the winter diet. Nuts are stored whole or in pieces in cracks and crevices in bark, and in cavities which are sealed with bits of bark when full. These birds also store insects (especially grasshoppers) along with acorns in cavities and crevices (Kilham 1963, Bent 1939).
Melanerpes formicivorus
L 8″
Habitat:The acorn woodpecker is a common resident of mixed oak-pine woodland and adjacent open grassland from Oregon along the Pacific Coast to the southwestern United States.
Nest:Acorn woodpeckers are communal nesters, and the young are fed by the entire group (Wetmore 1964). They usually excavate holes in ponderosa pine, but live and dead oaks of various species, sycamore, cottonwood, and willow are also used for nests. Their old holes are important for secondary cavity nesters such as small owls, purple martins, violet-green swallows, nuthatches, house wrens, and kestrels (Bent 1939).
Food:As the name implies, acorn woodpeckers feed mostly on acorns which are stored in holes drilled in communal trees. Sap from several species of oaks also is consumed from midwinter to summer (MacRoberts and MacRoberts 1972). About 25 percent of the diet is insects, including grasshoppers, ants, beetles, and flies (Bent 1939). Almonds, walnuts, and pecans are eaten when they are available.
Melanerpes lewis
L 9″
Habitat:Open or parklike ponderosa pine forest is probably the major breeding habitat of the Lewis’ woodpecker. These woodpeckers also nest in burned over stands of Douglas-fir, mixed conifer, pinyon-juniper, riparian, and oak woodlands (Bock 1970).
Nest:The Lewis’ woodpecker generally excavates its own nest cavity, but will use natural cavities or holes excavated in previous years. Bock (1970) summarized the following nest data: height range 5 to 170 feet; 47 nests in dead stubs and 17 in live trees; 29 nests in conifers, 31 in cottonwood and sycamore, 6 in oaks, 2 in power poles, 1 in juniper, and 1 in catalpa. At Boca Reservoir, California, 10 of 11 nests were in dead ponderosa pines, and the other was in a hollow section of a living pine.
Food:Insects, including flies, ladybird beetle larvae, tent caterpillars, ants, and mayflies, were the primary food of Lewis’ woodpeckers during spring and summer (Bock 1970). Fruits and berries were the most frequently used food in late summer and fall, while winter food consisted mostly of acorns and almonds gathered and stored in crevices of dead trees, power poles, and oak bark. Hadow (1973) reported that, on snowy days when insects were inactive, Lewis’ woodpeckers in southeastern Colorado spent 99 percent of their feeding time feeding from caches of acorns and corn kernels.
Sphyrapicus varius
L 7¾″
Habitat:The yellow-bellied sapsucker (sometimes called red-naped) is most abundant along streams in mixed hardwood-conifer forests. It is also found in ponderosa pine, aspen, mixed conifer, lodgepole pine, and in mixed stands of fir-larch-pine.
Nest:Yellow-bellied sapsuckers usually nest in cavities in snags or live trees with rotten heartwood. Aspen seems to be the preferred species (Howell 1952, Lawrence 1967, Kilham 1971), but nests have also been found in ponderosa pine, birch, elm, butternut, cottonwood, alder, willow, beech, maple, and fir (Bent 1939). Kilham (1971) noted that nest trees were often infected by theFomesfungus. Nest height varies from 5 to 70 feet above ground. The same nest tree is often used repeatedly, but a new cavity is excavated each year.
Food:Sap is eaten throughout the year by the yellow-bellied sapsucker, but the amount taken and tree species used vary seasonally (Tate 1973, Lawrence 1967). The birds regularly tap one or two “favorite trees” in their area; Oliver (1970) found that these tend to be trees which have been wounded (by logging, porcupines, etc.). About 80 percent of the insect food taken consists of ants (McAtee 1911). Other insects in their diet include beetles and wasps, but none of the woodboring larvae. The fruits of dogwood, black alder, Virginia creeper, and blackberries are included in the small portion of vegetable matter eaten (Bent 1939).
Sphyrapicus thyroideus
L 8¼″
Habitat:This sapsucker prefers mixed conifer-hardwood forests of the Rocky Mountain region but also inhabits the subalpine spruce-fir-lodgepole zone, and ponderosa pine, Douglas-fir, and aspen forests.
Nest:The choice of tree species for nesting seems to differ between regions. Bent (1939), Packard (1945), Bailey and Niedrach (1965), Burleigh (1972), and Jackman (1975) reported Williamson’s sapsuckers nesting primarily in conifers. Other authors (Rasmussen 1941, Hubbard 1965, Tatschl 1967, Ligon 1961, Crockett and Hadow 1975) found a preference for aspens. Of 57 nests in Colorado examined by Crockett and Hadow (1975), 49 were in aspens, especially aspens infected by theFomesfungus; where pines were used, there were no suitable aspen sites nearby. In Arizona, we found 17 nests in aspen snags, 3 in aspens with dead tops, and 1 nest in a live aspen.
Food:The diet of Williamson’s sapsuckers is made up of 87 percent animal and 13 percent vegetable material (Bent 1939). Most of the animal food taken is ants, and most of the vegetable material is cambium. Like the yellow-bellied sapsucker, the Williamson’s sapsucker feeds on sap, especially in spring, and picks out “favorite trees” which it taps regularly (Oliver 1970).
Picoides villosus
L 7½″
Habitat:Hairy woodpeckers are residents of nearly all types of forest from central Canada south.
Nest:Live trees in open woodlands are preferred nesting sites of hairy woodpeckers. This species makes a nest entrance that exactly fits its head and body size (1.6 to 1.8 inches). Because this size also seems very convenient for starlings and flying squirrels, hairy woodpeckers are often troubled with invasions (Kilham 1968a, Lawrence 1967). Hairy woodpeckers will often excavate the entrance so it is camouflaged or hidden, such as on the underside of a limb. Nest heights vary from 15 to 45 feet but are commonly approximately 35 feet high. Hairies will often use the same hole year after year.
Food:Hairy woodpeckers prefer to feed on insects on dead and diseased trees (Bent 1939). Approximately 80 percent of the diet is animal matter; adult and larval beetles, ants, and caterpillars are the most frequently eaten items. The primarily insect diet is supplemented with fruit, corn, acorns, hazelnuts, and many other species (Beal 1911, Bent 1939). The males forage in trees away from the nest for large insects (usually borers) located deep in the wood. Females forage close to the nest on the surface of trees, shrubs, or on the ground for small prey (Kilham 1968a).
Picoides pubescens
L 5¾″
Habitat:Downy woodpeckers inhabit most of the wooded parts of North America. They are absent or rare in the arid deserts, and not common in the densely forested regions. Favorite habitat includes open woodland, hammocks, orchards, roadside hedges, farmyards, and urban areas (Bent 1939). Occasionally, these birds nest at elevations above 9,000 feet in the central Rockies (Bailey and Niedrach 1965). Most populations are considered nonmigratory; however, there is some movement from north to south and from high elevations to the plains during winter.
Nest:Downy woodpeckers resemble common flickers in many of their nesting habits. Both prefer to excavate near the tops of dead trees in fairly open timber stands. They generally excavate new cavities each year in the same tree, but do not usually use cavities of other birds or reuse old cavities (Lawrence 1967). In the fall, these birds excavate fresh holes to use as winter roosts (Kilham 1962). Nest holes are normally 8 to 50 feet above the ground with an entrance hole 1.2 to 1.4 inches in diameter (Bent 1939).
Food:The diet is about 75 percent animal and 25 percent vegetable material. Animal material consists mostly of economically harmful insects. Kilham (1970) found that beetles, mostly wood-boring larvae, made up 21.5 percent of the diet. Other materials included ants (21 percent), caterpillars (16.5 percent), weevils (3 percent), and fruit (6 percent). Like hairy woodpeckers, downy woodpeckers have been credited with reducing forest pests (MacLellan 1958, 1959, Olson 1953).
Picoides scalaris
L 7″
Habitat:Ladder-backed woodpeckers are commonly found in mesquite and deciduous woodland along streams in desert regions of the Southwest.
Nest:Ladder-backed woodpecker nests are located in a variety of trees such as mesquite, screw bean, palo verde, hackberry, china tree, willow, cottonwood, walnut and oak, usually from 2 to 30 feet above ground. Saguaro cactus, yucca stalks, and branches are sometimes used for nests, as are telephone poles and fence posts (Bent 1939, Phillips et al. 1964).
Food:Insects, especially larvae of wood-boring beetles, caterpillars, and ants, are major food items. The ladder-backed woodpecker also has been reported to eat the ripe fruit of saguaro cactus (Bent 1939).
Picoides nuttallii
L 6¾″
Habitat:This western woodpecker is an inhabitant of oak woodlands, riparian woods, and chapparal west of the Sierras in California.
Nest:From a literature survey and personal observations, Miller and Bock (1972) summarized the following nest-tree data for 57 nests: 23 percent in oak, 19 percent in willow, 18 percent in sycamore, 16 percent in cottonwood, and 12 percent in alder. Cavities were excavated in dead limbs and trunks of trees, from 3 to 45 feet above ground.
Food:About 80 percent of the diet of Nuttall’s woodpecker is insects, including 28 percent beetles, 15 percent hemipterans, 14 percent lepidopteran larvae, and 8 percent ants (Beal 1911). Most of the insects are gleaned from trunk and limb surfaces or captured on the wing (Short 1971). Wild fruits, poison oak seeds, and occasional acorns make up the vegetable portion of the diet. Nuttall’s woodpeckers in California have been known to take almonds, occasionally robbing the caches of Lewis’ woodpeckers (Emlen 1937, Bock 1970).
Picoides arizonae
L 7¼″
Habitat:Arizona woodpeckers are found in live oak and oak-pine forests and canyons from 4,000 to 7,500 feet in Arizona and New Mexico.
Nest:The Arizona woodpecker excavates holes in dead branches of living trees, primarily walnuts, oaks, maples, and sycamores. One nest was reportedly located in a mescal stalk (Bent 1939).
Food:This woodpecker’s diet probably consists largely of the adult and larval stages of insects, with some fruit and acorns, but few details of food items have been reported (Bent 1939).
Picoides borealis
7¼″
Habitat:Red-cockaded woodpeckers need open, mature (at least 60 year old) pine forest with a high fire occurrence (Bent 1939, Jackson 1971, Hopkins and Lynn 1971). Pine species used during breeding season include: longleaf (Crosby 1971), slash (Lowry 1960), loblolly (Sprunt and Chamberlain 1949), and shortleaf (Sutton 1967). Red-cockaded woodpeckers are on the national “Endangered species” list.
Nest:These woodpeckers prefer living pines infected with red heart rot for nesting. These trees have a soft, easily excavated interior with a living exterior, leaving the tree less susceptible to destruction by fire than a dead tree. Cavities can often be reused for at least 20 years and for several years by the same pair (Ligon 1971). The height of cavity is influenced by the location of red heart infection and the height and density of undergrowth (Crosby 1971). The majority of cavities face west, and, when found in leaning trees, are generally on the low side (Beckett 1971, Baker 1971).
Food:Insects make up the major portion of the diet of red-cockaded woodpeckers. Beal (1911) and Beal et al. (1916) examined 99 stomachs and found 86 percent insects and 14 percent vegetable matter, mostly mast. Beetle larvae (16 percent) and ants made up an important part of the year-round diet. The corn earworm can be a major food source during several weeks where conditions are suitable (Ward 1930). Plant material recorded being eaten includes wax myrtle, magnolia, poison ivy, wild grape, pokeberry, blueberry, wild cherry, black gum, and pecan (Beal 1911, Baker 1971, Ligon 1971).
Picoides albolarvatus
L 7¾″
Habitat:Open ponderosa pine forest from Washington to central California is the primary habitat of the white-headed woodpecker, but it also occurs in sugar pine, Jeffrey pine, and red and white fir forests (Grinnell and Miller 1944).
Nest:This woodpecker seems to prefer dead pines, but nests have also been found in live and dead fir, oak, and aspen. White-headed woodpeckers usually excavate a new nest cavity every year and often excavate several holes before selecting one to nest in (Bent 1939). Average nest height is 8 feet above ground.
Food:White-headed woodpeckers feed primarily on pine seeds during the winter and early spring, and on insects during the summer. Tevis (1953) determined that 60 percent of the annual diet was pine seeds and 40 percent was insects. Ants made up half of the insect food; other insects taken were woodboring beetles, spiders, and fly larvae (Beal 1911, Grinnell and Storer 1924, Ligon 1973).
Picoides arcticus
L 8″
Habitat:The conifer forests of the north are preferred, but this three-toed woodpecker is not abundant even in its favorite habitat. Forest types include mixed conifer, lodgepole pine, white fir, subalpine fir, tamarack swamps, boreal spruce-balsam fir, Douglas-fir, and mixed hardwood-conifer.
Nest:This species usually excavates its cavities in snags or live trees with dead heartwood, especially in areas that have been burned or logged (Bent 1939). Nests are usually in spruce, balsam fir, pines, or Douglas-fir, although maple, birch, and cedar have been used.
Food:The food of this species is similar to that of the northern three-toed woodpecker. Beal (1911) found 75 percent of the food to be woodboring beetle larvae, mainly long-horned beetles and metallic woodboring beetles. Weevils and other beetles, spiders, and ants are eaten along with some wild fruit, mast, and cambium. Beal estimated that each three-toed woodpecker annually consumed 13,675 woodboring beetle larvae.
Picoides tridactylus
L 7½″
Habitat:This highly beneficial woodpecker is most common in coniferous forests of the West, but does occur occasionally in the Northeast.
Nest:The northern three-toed woodpecker excavates nest cavities each year in standing dead trees or in dead limbs of live trees with rotted heartwood (Jackman and Scott 1975). Their nest cavities have been reported in pine, aspen, spruce, and cedar trees (Bent 1939). In Arizona, we found two nests in ponderosa pine snags.
Food:The northern three-toed woodpecker is probably one of the most important birds in combating forest insect pests in the western United States. Massey and Wygant (1973) found that spruce beetles comprised 65 percent of their diet in Colorado. During the winter when other foods were scarce, the spruce beetle made up 99 percent of the food taken. West and Speiers (1959) reported that both species of three-toed woodpeckers in northeastern United States feed on elm bark beetles, which carry Dutch elm disease. Koplin (1972) estimated that 20 percent of an endemic and 84 percent of an epidemic spruce beetle population in Colorado were consumed by three species of woodpeckers, the most important of which was the northern three-toed. Other foods include ants, woodboring and lepidopteran larvae, fruits, mast, and cambium (Beal 1911, Massey and Wygant 1973).
Campephilus principalis
L 18″
Habitat:Cooke (1888) and Bent (1939) described the largest of the North American woodpeckers as rare, shy, and found only in the heaviest timber in virgin cypress and bottomland forest of the South. Tanner (1942) described ivory-billed woodpecker habitat as heavily forested and usually flooded alluvial land bordering rivers, made up of oaks, cypress, and green ash. The most recent sightings (between 5 and 10 pairs) have been made in bottomland hardwoods that have been cut over but still have some large, mature trees (Dennis 1967). They are included on the national “Endangered species” list.
Nest:Nest cavities of this species have been recorded in almost every species of tree occurring within the ivory-bill’s habitat (Greenway 1958). The squarish holes (Dennis 1967) are high, 16 to 65 feet, and in the trunks of living or dead trees (Greenway 1958, Forbush and May 1939).
Food:Ivory-billed woodpeckers could be of economic importance except for their small numbers (Greenway 1958). The woodboring larvae making up a third of their diet (Beal 1911) are injurious to trees (Pearson 1936), and are most abundant in areas where recently dead and dying trees are numerous because of flooding, fire, insect attacks, or storms. The birds stay as long as there are abundant larvae (Dennis 1967). They also eat fruit of magnolia and pecan trees (Beal 1911).
Myiodynastes luteiventris
L 6¾″
Habitat:The sulphur-bellied flycatcher is a common occupant of riparian habitat with sycamore trees in deep canyons from 5,000 to 7,500 feet elevation in the Huachuca Mountains of Arizona.
Nest:Invariably the nest of this species, made from leaf stems (Peterson 1961), is built in a natural cavity in a large sycamore at a height between 20 and 50 feet above the ground. The cavity normally is a knothole where a large branch has broken off (Bent 1942). At least one member of each pair may return to the same nest site each year.
Food:Little information has been published on the food habits of this flycatcher, but insects caught in the air are undoubtedly the major items. Apparently small fruits and berries also are eaten (Bent 1942).
Myiarchus crinitus
L 7″
Habitat:Great crested flycatchers are common in deciduous and mixed woods east of the Rockies. They were originally a deep forest bird, but with increases in forest clearing and thinning operations, fewer and fewer cavities are available. They seem to be adapting well to less densely forested areas, areas treated with herbicides, and forest-field edge situations (Hespenheide 1971, Bent 1942).
Nest:Great crested flycatchers use natural cavities or excavations made by other species. Nests are found in a variety of tree species anywhere from 3 to 70 feet above the ground (mostly below 20 feet). They build a bulky nest, and therefore prefer deep cavities. Before constructing a nest, they will generally fill a deep cavity with trash to a level of 12 to 18 inches from the top. They are well known for their habit of including a snake skin in the nest or dangling it from the cavity opening (Bent 1942).
Food:Food habit studies have shown that great crested flycatchers eat 94 percent animal and 6 percent vegetable material. Most frequently eaten are butterflies, beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, katydids, bees, and sawflies. Vegetable matter is mainly wild fruits. Most food is caught in flight in the usual flycatcher fashion (Bent 1942).
Myiarchus tyrannulus
L 7¼″
Habitat:Desert saguaros, deciduous woodlands and riparian vegetation in the Southwest are the preferred habitats of the Wied’s crested flycatcher.
Nest:Nests made from twigs, weeds, and trash are built in abandoned woodpecker holes in saguaro cacti at a height from 5 to 20 feet above the ground. Sycamores, cottonwoods, and fence posts are used occasionally (Bent 1942).
Food:The diet of this species is similar to that of other crested flycatchers, consisting mostly of beetles, flying insects, and perhaps some berries and fruits (Bent 1942).
Myiarchus cinerascens
L 6½″
Habitat:The ash-throated flycatcher occupies dense mesquite thickets, oak groves, saguaro cactus, riparian vegetation, and pinyon-juniper forests. It ranges from Washington to the southwestern United States and Texas.
Nest:The ash-throated flycatcher is not particularly specific in tree selection as long as it has a cavity. Woodpecker holes, exposed pipes, and nest boxes have been used. Mesquite, ash, oak, sycamore, juniper, and cottonwood are common nest trees (Bent 1942).
Food:The diet of this species consists mainly of animal material. Beetles, bees, wasps, bugs, flies, caterpillars, moths, grasshoppers, spiders, etc., make up about 92 percent of the diet. Mistletoe, berries, and other fleshy fruits account for the remainder (Bent 1942).
Myiarchus tuberculifer
L 5¾″
Habitat:Olivaceous flycatchers are found in dense oak thickets, pinyon-juniper forests, and along canyon streams in Arizona and southwestern New Mexico.
Nest:Nests are located in natural cavities or abandoned woodpecker holes. Oaks are preferred, but nests also have been reported in ash and sycamore trees (Bent 1942).
Food:Limited evidence on food habits of this species indicates that the major food items are small insects including grasshoppers, termites, mayflies, treehoppers, miscellaneous bugs, moths, bees, wasps, and spiders (Bent 1942).
Empidonax difficilis
L 5″
Habitat:Moist deciduous or coniferous forests and areas near running water with tall trees are favored by the western flycatcher (Grinnell and Miller 1944).
Nest:Western flycatchers sometimes nest in cavities, but use a variety of nest sites. Davis et al. (1963) found four nests in natural cavities in willows and oaks, and six behind flaps of bark in sycamores and willows. Nests are often reported in natural rock crevices, on tree limbs and crotches, and on ledges of buildings (Bent 1942, Davis et al. 1963, Beaver 1967).
Food:Almost all of the food of the western flycatcher is insects captured on the wing. An examination of 23 stomachs showed 31 percent flies, 25 percent beetles, 23 percent lepidopterans (including pupae and adults of spruce budworms), and 17 percent hymenopterans (Beaver 1967).
Tachycineta thalassina
L 4¾″
Habitat:Ponderosa pine affords the favorite habitat for violet-green swallows (Bailey and Niedrach 1965), but they are also found in aspen-willow and spruce-aspen forests. They prefer open or broken woods or the edges of dense forests.
Nest:Violet-green swallows nest in holes, cavities, and crevices in a variety of situations. Where birds are abundant, the demand for nest sites is sometimes greater than the supply, and practically any available cavity may be used. These swallows have been reported to use old nests of cliff swallows and even burrows of bank swallow (Bent 1942). Winternitz (1973) reported violet-greens using old woodpecker holes in live aspen as nesting sites, but in Arizona, we found them nesting primarily in old woodpecker holes in ponderosa pine snags. We found one in the dead top of an aspen, 5 in dead tops of ponderosa pine, and 26 in ponderosa pine snags. Nest heights ranged from 16 to 80 feet and averaged 43 feet.
Food:Apparently, the diet of this species is exclusively insects taken on the wing. It includes leafhoppers, leaf bugs, flies, flying ants, and some wasps, bees, and beetles (Bent 1942). In Colorado, Baldwin (pers. comm.[7]) found that insects made up 99 percent of the stomach contents of six violet-green swallows. Flies were the most abundant insect found. Scolytid beetles, seed and leaf bugs, miscellaneous insects, and a few spiders were also found.
Iridoprocne bicolor
L 5″
Habitat:Tree swallows breed throughout North America from the northern half of the United States north to the limit of tree growth. They are migrants throughout the Central and Southern states and winter primarily in Central America.
Nest:Tree swallows prefer to nest in natural cavities and old woodpecker holes—usually near water. The lack of natural cavities, competition for existing cavities, and the availability of nest boxes, have resulted in a shift in nesting preferences to nest boxes in the eastern United States (Bent 1942, Low 1933, Whittle 1926). Bluebird boxes and purple martin houses are frequently used. Tree swallows are not colonial, but will nest within 7 feet of each other, if there are adequate meadows, marsh, or water area available for feeding (Whittle 1926). Woodpecker holes in aspen, spruce, and pine are the most common nest sites in the West (Bailey and Niedrach 1965).
Food:This species is the first of the swallows to arrive in the north in the spring, and the last to depart in the fall. Because tree swallows can subsist on seeds and berries, they are not as dependent upon insects as are other swallows. They are partial to waxmyrtle and bayberry where these are available. Plant food proportions in the diet are 1 percent in spring, 21 percent in summer, 29 percent in fall, and 30 percent in winter (Martin et al. 1951, Forbush and May 1939).
Progne subis
L 7″
Habitat:The natural nesting population of purple martins prefer open woodlands or cutover forests where suitable snags remain. Purple martins have been reported in oak, sycamore, ponderosa pine, Monterey pine, spruce, and fir forests of California (Grinnell and Miller 1944). In the Southwest, the purple martin breeds in the ponderosa pine belt and in the saguaro cactus desert.
Nest:The western purple martin has not adapted to nesting in boxes as well as the eastern form (Bunch 1964), and much of the western population depends upon holes made by woodpeckers, usually in tall pines in relatively open timber stands (Bent 1942). Martins also nest in old woodpecker holes in saguaro cactus. We have recorded 21 nests near Cibecue, Arizona, all in ponderosa pine snags. Nests ranged from 25 to 35 feet above ground. Nest compartments in martin houses should be 6 × 6 × 6 inches with an entrance hole 2½ inches in diameter 1 inch above the floor. The boxes should be 15 to 20 feet above ground.
Food:The purple martin feeds on the wing, and nearly all the diet is insects, although some spiders are taken (Beal 1918). Johnston (1967) examined the stomach contents of 34 martins collected in April, May, June, and August in Kansas. Beetles, true bugs, flies, bees, and wasps were the important food items. Although the purple martin has been credited for feeding on large numbers of mosquitoes (Bent 1942), it was not documented by the two food habit studies mentioned.
Parus atricapillus
L 4½″
Habitat:Black-capped chickadees nest throughout southern Canada and the northern half of the United States. In Missouri, the black-capped chickadee generally nests north of the Missouri River and the Carolina chickadee nests south of the River. The breeding range extends farther south at higher elevations of the Rocky and Appalachian Mountain ranges than in non-mountainous areas. In Colorado, black-caps are most abundant in the ponderosa pine and aspen forests (Bailey and Niedrach 1965).
Nest:Chickadees nest in cavities but roost anywhere convenient, generally not in cavities (Odum 1942). The most suitable nesting sites are stubs with partially decayed cores and firm shells. They usually excavate their own cavities, but will use natural cavities or nest boxes. Black-caps will occasionally nest in a cavity they used the previous year after making some alterations. Preferred nesting sites throughout the eastern forests are tree species that occur in the early seral stages but that are short lived and persist in the intermediate stages as decaying stubs (Odum 1941, Brewer 1961).
Food:The diet of the black-capped chickadee is comprised of 70 percent animal and 30 percent vegetable matter. Mast, chiefly from coniferous trees, and fruits of bayberry, blackberry, blueberry, and poison ivy make up the bulk of the vegetable matter. Animal material eaten (mostly insects) includes caterpillars, eggs, moths, spiders, and beetles. Winter diet is primarily larvae, eggs, katydids, and spiders (Bent 1946, Martin et al. 1951).
Parus carolinensis
L 4¼″
Habitat:The Carolina chickadee, which inhabits the southeastern forests, is a slightly smaller version of the black-capped chickadee. In Missouri, the Carolina chickadee nests south of the Missouri River throughout the Ozarks.
Nest:The nesting habits of the black-capped and Carolina chickadees are quite similar. They occasionally nest in natural cavities or deserted holes of woodpeckers, but commonly excavate their own nest cavity in decaying wood of dead trunks or limbs of deciduous trees (Bent 1946). Black-capped and Carolina chickadees line their nesting cavities with fine grasses and feathers.
Food:Food habits of the Carolina chickadee are also very similar to those of the black-capped chickadee. Food consists of insects and a variety of fleshy fruits and seeds (Bent 1946).
Parus sclateri
L 4¼″
Habitat:This species inhabits pine and spruce forests from 7,000 to 10,000 feet elevation just inside the United States in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona and the Animas Mountains of New Mexico (Phillips et al. 1964).
Nest:Mexican chickadees excavate nest holes in dead trees or branches. One nest was found in a willow stub about 5 feet above the ground (Bent 1946).
Food:No information on diet was found in the literature.