Abstract
Forest habitat is important for a variety of woodpecker species, and is under pressure from urbanization. Red-headed Woodpeckers (Melanerpes erythrocephalus; RHWO) were once abundant across Eastern North America, and their populations have been declining since the 1960s. Their distribution encompasses urban centers, and since urban habitats differ from natural forest areas, our goal was to understand RHWO nest-site selection in an urban context. We addressed two main questions 1) what are the characteristics of RHWO nest selection across multiple spatial scales and 2) how do RHWO nest tree characteristics in city parks compare to those in forest preserves? This work was done in Cook County, IL, which includes Chicago, the third-largest city in the USA by population. We examined 34 RHWO nest trees used between 2010 and 2013, their surrounding habitat, and the landscape within a 1 km radius. Used trees and habitats were compared to paired unused trees and habitats, and landscape-scale characteristics were compared to random locations. Advanced decay of the nest tree, low canopy cover and increased presence of fungus on trees in the surrounding habitat were the best predictors of RHWO nesting in the area. Nests were most commonly found in forested areas outside of dense urban areas. However, we did not detect significant differences in the characteristics of the nest trees located in forest preserves and city parks. Our findings are consistent with nest selection studies in rural and natural areas, suggesting that forest habitats in metropolitan landscapes can support RHWO nesting.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Beal FEL (1911) Food of the woodpeckers of the United States. U.S. Department of Agriculture Biological Survey Bulletin no. 37
Blewett CM, Marzluff JM (2005) Effects of urban sprawl on snags and the abundance and productivity of cavity-nesting birds. Condor 107:678–693
Bull EL, Parks CG, Torgersen TR (1997) Trees and logs important to wildlife in the interior Columbia River basin. USDA Forest Service General Technical Report PNW-GTR-391
Burnham KP, Anderson DR (1998) Model selection and inference: a practical information-theoretic approach. Springer, New York
Carpaneto GM, Mazziotta A, Coletti G, Luiselli L, Audisio P (2010) Conflict between insect conservation and public safety: the case study of a saproxylic beetle (Osmoderma eremita) in urban parks. J Insect Conserv 14:555–565
Cockle KL, Martin K, Wesołowski T (2011) Woodpeckers, decay, and the future of cavity-nesting vertebrate communities worldwide. Front Ecol Environ 9:377–382
Conner RN, Saenz D (1996) Woodpecker excavation and use of cavities in polystyrene snags. Wilson Bull 108:449–456
Conway CJ, Martin TE (1993) Habitat suitability for Williamson’s Sapsuckers in mixed-conifer forests. J Wildl Manag 57:322–328
Cooke HA, Hannon SJ (2012) Nest-site selection by old boreal forest cavity excavators as a basis for structural retention guidelines in spatially-aggregated harvests. For Ecol Manag 269:37–51
DeGraff RM, Wentworth JM (1986) Avian guild structure and habitat associations in suburban bird communities. Urban Ecol 9:399–412
DeGraff RM, Whitman GM, Lanier JW, Hill BJ, Keniston JM (1980) Forest habitat for birds of the Northeast. USDA Forest Service, Northeast Forest Experimental Station, Radnor
Doherty PF Jr, Grubb TC Jr, Bronson CL (1996) Territories and caching-related behavior of Red-headed Woodpeckers wintering in a beech grove. Wilson Bull 108:740–747
Drever MC, Aitken KEH, Norris AR, Martin K (2008) Woodpeckers as reliable indicators of bird richness, forest health and harvest. Biol Conserv 141:624–634
Edworthy AB, Wiebe KL, Martin K (2012) Survival analysis of a critical resource for cavity-nesting communities: patterns of tree cavity longevity. Ecol Appl 26:1733–1742
Forest Preserve District of Cook County, State of the Land Today. December (2001) http://www.habitatproject.org/webdocs/misc/FPDCCReportStateOfLandToday2001.pdf
Frei B, Fyles JW, Nocera JJ (2013) Maladaptive habitat use of a North American woodpecker in population decline. Ethology 119:377–388
Garaffa PI, Filloy J, Bellocq MI (2009) Bird community responses along urban-rural gradients: Does the size of the urbanized area matter? Landsc Urban Plan 90:33–91
Gehrt SD, Anchor C, White LA (2009) Home range and landscape use of coyotes in a metropolitan landscape: conflict or coexistence? J Mammology 90:1045–1057
Gentry DJ, Vierling KT (2008) Reuse of woodpecker cavities in the breeding and non-breeding season in old burn habitats in the Black Hills, South Dakota. Am Midl Nat 160:413–429
Germaine SS, Rosenstock SS, Schweinsburg RE, Richardson WS (1998) Relationships among breeding birds, habitat, and residential development in greater Tuscon, Arizona. Ecol Appl 8:680–691
Graber JW, Graber RR, Kirk EL (1977) Illinois birds: Picidae. Illinois Natural History Survey, Biological Notes No. 102, Urbana, USA
Hamel PB (1992) Land manager’s guide to the birds of the South. The Nature Conservancy, Chapel Hill
Hudson NC, Bollinger EK (2013) Nest success and nest site selection of Red-headed Woodpeckers (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) in East-central Illinois. Am Midl Nat 170:86–94
Hurvich CM, Tsai CL (1989) Regression and times series model selection in linear regression. Biometrika 76:297–307
Illinois Department of Natural Resources (2005) The Illinois comprehensive wildlife conservation plan & strategy. http://www.dnr.illinois.gov/conservation/IWAP/Documents/WildlifeActionPlanFinal.pdf
Illinois Department of Transportation (2012) Illinois Technology Transfer Center. http://gis.dot.illinois.gov/gist2/
Illinois Natural History Survey (2003) Land Cover manual and atlas: Illinois GAP analysis project. Center for Wildlife Ecology, Champaign
Illinois Natural History Survey (2012) Illinois Gap Analysis Project (IL-GAP). http://wwx.inhs.illinois.edu/research/gap/landcover/
Ingold DJ (1994) Influences of Nest-Site competition between European starlings and Woodpeckers Wilson Bull 106, 227–241
Jackson JA, Jackson BJS (2004) Ecological relationships between fungi and woodpecker cavity sites. Condor 106:37–49
Johnson DH (1980) The comparison of usage and availability measurements for evaluations of resource preference. Ecology 61:65–71
Kahl RB, Baskett TS, Ellis JA, Burorunghs JN (1985) Characteristics of summer habitats of selected nongame birds in Missouri. University of Missouri Agriculture Experiment Station Research Bulletin 1056. University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA
Kilgo JC, Vukovich M (2011) Factors affecting breeding season survival of red-headed woodpeckers in South Carolina. J Wildl Manag 76:328–355
King RS, Brashear KE, Reiman M (2007) Red-headed Woodpecker nest-habitat thresholds in restored savannas. J Wildl Manag 71:30–35
LaMontagne JM, Kilgour RJ, Anderson EC, Magle S (2015) Tree cavity availability across forest, park, and residential habitats in a highly urban area. Urban Ecosyst 18:151–167
Landres PB, Verner J, Thomas JW (1988) Ecological uses of vertebrate indicator species: a critique. Conserv Biol 2:316–328
Loss SR, Ruiz MO, Brawn JD (2009) Relationships between avian diversity, neighborhood age, income, and environmental characteristics of an urban landscape. Biol Conserv 142:2578–2585
Magle SB, Hunt VM, Vernon M, Crooks KR (2010) Urban wildlife research: past, present, and future. Biol Conserv 155:23–32
Martin TE, Paine CR, Conway CJ, Hochachka WM, Allen P, Jenkins W (1997) BBIRD (Breeding Biology Research and Monitoring Database) field protocol. Montana Cooperative
Marzluff JM, Gehlbach FR, Manuwal DA (1998) Urban environments: influences on avifauna and challenges for the avian conservationist. In: Marzluff JM, Bowman R, Donnelly R (eds) Avian ecology in an urbanizing world. Kluwer, Norwell, pp 283–296
Maser C, Anderson RG, Cromack K, Williams Jr JT, Martin ER (1979) Dead and down wood material. In: Thomas JW (ed) Wildlife habitats in managed forests: the Blue Mountains of Oregon and Washington. U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Handbook 553. pp. 78–95
National Audubon Society (2008) The christmas bird count historical results. National Audubon Society, Ivyland
Norris AR, Martin K (2008) Mountain pine beetle presence affects nest patch choice of Red-breasted Nuthatches. J Wildl Manag 72:733–737
Nowak DJ, Hoehn RE III, Crane DE, Stevens JC, Leblanc Fisher C (2010) Assessing urban forest effects and values, Chicago’s urban forest. Resource Bulletin NRS-37. Newton Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station, pp 27
Pulich WM (1988) The birds of north central Texas. Texas A&M Press, College Station
Rich TD, Beardmore CJ, Berlanga H, Blancher PJ, Bradstreet MSW, Butcher GS, Demarest DW, Dunn EH, Hunter WC, Ingo-Elias EE, Kennedy JA, Martell AM, Panjabi AO, Pashley DN, Rosenberg KV, Rustay CM, Wendt JS, Will TC (2004) Partners in Flight North American Landbird conservation plan. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca
Rodewald PG, Santiago MJ, Rodewald AD (2005) Habitat use of breeding red-headed woodpeckers on golf courses in Ohio. Wildl Soc Bull 33:448–453
Sadoti G (2012) Nesting ecology of common Black-hawks in relation to landscape features. J Raptor Res 46:296–303
Sauer JR, Hines JE, Fallon J (2008) The North American Breeding Bird Survey, results and analysis 1966–2007. United States Geological Survey
Smith KG, Scarlett T (1987) Mast production and winter populations of Red-headed Woodpeckers and Blue Jays. J Wildl Manag 51:459–467
Smith KG, Withgott JH, Rodewald PG (2000) Red-headed woodpeckers (Melanerpes erythrocephalus). Birds North Am 518:1–27
Statistics Canada (2011) 2011 cumulative profile. CANSIM. Using E-Stat. http://estat.statcan.ca/cgi-win-CNSMCGI.EXE?CANSIMFILE=ESTAT\English\CII_1_E.htm. Accessed 1 May 2014
Stauffner DF, Best LB (1982) Nest-site selection by cavity-nesting birds of riparian habitats in Iowa. Wilson Bull 94:329–337
Symonds MRE, Moussalli A (2011) A brief guide to model Selection, multimodel inference and model averaging in behavioural ecology using Akaike’s information criterion. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 65:13–21
Tews J, Brose U, Grimm V, Tielberger K, Wichmann MC, Schwagger M, Jeltsch F (2004) Animal species diversity driven by habit heterogeneity/diversity: the importance of keystone structures. J Biogeogr 32:79–92
Thomas JW, Miller RJ, Black H, Rodiek JE, Maser CBK (1976) Guidelines for maintaining and enhancing wildlife habitat: forest management in the Blue Mountains of Oregon and Washington. Transactions of the North American wildlife and natural resources conference, No. 41. Wildlife Management Institute, Washington, DC
Thompson JR, Fleishman E, Mac Nally R, Dobkin DS (2005) Influence of temporal resolution of data on the success of indicator species models of species richness across multiple taxonomic groups. Biol Cons 124:503–518
Thorne Smith E (1972) Chicagoland birds: where and when to find them. Field Museum of Natural History Press, Chicago, p 33
Titus R (1983) Management of snags and cavity trees in Missouri—a process. In: Davis JW, Goodwin GA, Ockenfelf RA (eds.) Snag Habitat Management Proceedings of the Symposium, Flagstaff, Arizona. 7–9 June 1983. US Forest Service General Technical Report RM-99. pp 51–59
Tweit RC, Tweit JC (1986) Urban development effects on the abundance of some common resident birds of the Tucson area of Arizona. Am Birds 40:431–436
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (2008) Birds of Conservation Concern 2008. United States Department of Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of Migratory Bird Management, Arlington, Virginia. 85 pp. [Online version available at <http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/>]
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) (2011) Population distribution, urbanization, internal migration and development: an international perspective. United Nations, pp.6–31
United States Census Bureau (2010) Census 2010 Population Profile. http://www.census.gov/2010census/popmap/. Accessed 1 May 2014
Venables A, Collopy MW (1989) Seasonal foraging and habitat requirements of Red-headed Woodpeckers in north-central Florida. Nongame Wildlife Program Final Report Project no. GFC-84-006. Florida Game Fresh Water Fish Commission
Vierling K, Lentile L (2006) Red-headed Woodpecker nest-site selection and reproduction in a mixed ponderosa pine and aspen woodland following fire. Condor 108:957–962
Waldstein AL (2012) Nest-site selection and nesting ecology of Red-headed Woodpeckers. Master’s Thesis
Zar JH (1999) Biostatistical analysis, 4th edition. Prentice Hall
Acknowledgments
We thank J. Pollock and the Audubon Chicago Region for providing us with data on RHWO nest sites and assistance throughout this endeavor, Dr. H. Cooke for method assistance, and as Drs. S. Magle and D. Meritt, Jr. for guidance and support. This research was funded by a grant from the Illinois Ornithological Society as well as the Department of Biological Sciences and the College of Science and Health at DePaul University. GIS analysis would not have been possible without guidance from D. Semitekol. Special thanks as well to M. Lordon, A. Grecco, L. Holden, and C. Anderson for assistance with field work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Anderson, E.C., LaMontagne, J.M. Nest selection by red-headed woodpeckers across three spatial scales in an urban environment. Urban Ecosyst 19, 297–314 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-015-0491-3
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-015-0491-3