At 05:35 PM 1/31/97 -0500, Wallis Bolz wrote:

>Today I spotted a female Pileated Woodpecker just north of the Sorbus Grove
>in the Washington Park Arboretum. The woodpecker was drilling into an oak
>tree growing on the Broadmoor side of the fence.

Pretty interesting. Pileated woodpeckers are thought to be facing
population decline because they require large diameter snags in which they
excavate cavities for nesting and roosting. They also require significant
quantities of dead and defective trees in which to find invertebrates to
eat. However, these apparent life requirements seem to be at odds with
there persistance in many of Washington's most urbanized areas (like the
Washington Park Arboretum?). I have often thought that a radio-telemetry
study of urban Pileated Woodpeckers would be very informative. Are they
finding the necessary resources by traveling over huge areas? Do they
require a "core" area of old forest?
Do they actually "make do" with trees that are smaller than what existing
studies indicate?

Kelly McAllister
Olympia Washington