woodpecker warfare

Northern Flickers used to be our most common large woodpecker until the Red-bellied arrived from the south. When I started birding many years ago, the Red-bellied was unknown in these parts (woodpeckers -- flickers excepted -- tend to be resident year-round and very stationary; most can expand their range only as their breeding populations expand at the edges of their range. In the 1980-85 Atlas of Breeding Birds, the Red-bellied was noted as breeding on the LI North Shore but was rare anywhere else. But by the end of the century it was the most common and easily observed woodpecker everywhere on LI including the East End. This was part of a general expansion of its range and population to the north and some people even worried that the Red-bellied was competing and adversely affecting the Flickers, even to the point of replacing them entirely. That obviously has not happened. The birds certainly differ in many ways and occupy different ecological niches (the Flicker is easily the bigger of the two). But I have the impression that our Flickers have become much shyer perhaps because they are now dividing up some of their habitat with their competitor. The Red-bellied tends to take over garden habitats and woodland edges while the Flicker, in spite of its known preference for ants (which leads it to feed often on the ground), is more restricted to woodland habitat. On our place, I often hear it in the woods, especially adjacent to the upper marsh areas where there are many dead trees and some open ground beneath the edge shrubbery. As I walk the marsh edge trail, I often flush a Flicker or two, easily identifiable as they fly away, by the white rump patch, and, presumably if it is a male. by the extended wicka-wicka-wicka call.

This morning, as I was walking up the trail to the head of the marsh, I witnessed a Flicker face-off -- not between a Flicker and a Red-bellied but between two Flickers. Both were males with the tell-tale black moustache and both were sounding the Flicker alarm. They were not physically close so their rather fearsome looking bills could not come into play but it was unmistakably a serious confrontation. What was the meaning of this encounter? The key was the behavior of one of the 'peckers -- the resident bird, in my opinion. As he called, his neck was extended with his head pointing up and tracing a kind of figure-eight pattern in the air. Quite a display. This is known as the 'fencing duel' and it usually involves both males much earlier in the spring when the birds return from their winter quarters and need to set up territories and/or attract females. In this case, I think the displaying bird was the resident and he was challenged by the appearance of a newcomer. The bird that I am calling the newcomer did not take up the challenge (except vocally) and eventually retreated. Satisfied that he had beaten back the invasion, the displaying bird then took off into the woods from I could hear his triumphant wicka-wicka-wicka a moment later.
 
Eric Salzman