Subject: Re: Lewis' Woodpecker
Date: Aug 24 09:43:17 1995
From: Dennis Paulson - dpaulson at ups.edu


Dale Goble wrote:

>i finished up a raft trip down the Salmon River a week ago and was
>impressed by the large numbers of Lewis' Woodpeckers. there were more
>than 150 in the last half of the trip (approx. 60 miles). this was far
>more than my last trip down the river a couple of years ago.
>
>do Lewis' cycle as well?

Was your other trip at the same time of year? I think Lewis' Woodpecker is
a species that concentrates at food sources, and maybe there are a lot of
flying insects present at particular times of year--or their numbers may
vary from year to year. Certainly where there are oaks, LEWOs are variable
from year to year, just because acorn crops are variable. It may be the
river is a staging ground for fall migration, comparable to Bowerman Basin
for shorebirds in spring.

Dennis Paulson, Director phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416