Subject: Black-backed Woodpeckers
Date: Jun 10 10:58:37 2000
From: Hal Opperman - halop at accessone.com


Hello Tweets,

Brenda Senturia and I spent yesterday working on some breeding-bird
atlas blocks in Kittitas County. In the process we came across two
pairs of BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKERS, one of them at a nest.

The nest is located along Coleman Creek Road in Township 20 North,
Range 20 East, Section 18, about 0.1 mile north of the line between
Sections 18 and 19. The point where the road crosses this line is
marked by a survey post. If you are coming up Coleman Creek Road
from the south the crossover point into Section 18 is evident because
you enter into an uncut stretch of forest there, dominated by
numerous giant western larches. The nest hole is in one such
half-dead larch maybe 100 feet off the roadway on the east side and
25-30 feet up the tree, facing the road. A pair of adults came and
went from the hole as we watched for ten minutes or so. Elevation at
the site is about 5600 feet.

The second observation occurred about 2.75 straight-line miles ENE of
the first, at approximately 5800 feet elevation in quite different
habitat. The location is in Township 20N, Range 20E, Section 15,
along Naneum Ridge Road approximately 0.25-0.3 mile east of the
intersection of this road and Jumpoff Ridge Road. As you go east
from this intersection (marked Four Corners on most maps) you will
notice a small road branching off on the north and, to the south, a
wide, grassy swath of cleared land (the Naneum Airstrip). At the
east edge of this grassland the forest of the Arthur Coffin Game
Reserve recommences, set well back from the south side of the road
and consisting mostly of small trees with some snags and larger trees
reaching above them. Near the east edge of the landing strip about
200-250 feet south of the road stands an isolated, barkless,
wondrously resonant stub about 15-20 feet tall. A male black-back
was using it as a drumming post. To great effect, as a female
quickly joined him, landing on the opposite side of the stub. After
two or three more drumrolls the pair flew off into the woods behind.

In 1997, Dave Swayne and I found a nest of black-backs with young
along Swift Creek 2.6 miles NW of the first location mentioned above,
at about 5200 feet elevation. It was also in a larch. Indications
are that the Naneum Ridge area is a good place to look for this
elusive species. Unless a nest happens to be located along one of
the small number of roads, however, chances of a birder chancing
across a black-back are slight -- which is why the preferred search
technique is to look for the burns where they congregate to forage in
the first few years after a fire. However, most black-backs make
their normal living in unburned forests, scattered across a vast,
mostly unbirded landscape. They are probably more numerous out there
than most birders think.

Other highlights of our Naneum Ridge birding yesterday included
WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKER, many singing DUSKY (at the upper edge of the
Ponderosa Pine zone in open forest) and HAMMOND'S (higher up, in
wetter, more closed forest) FLYCATCHERS, GRAY JAY, CLARK'S
NUTCRACKER, RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET (many singing above 5500 feet
elevation), MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD, HERMIT THRUSH, VARIED THRUSH,
YELLOW-RUMPED and TOWNSEND'S WARBLERS, LINCOLN'S and FOX SPARROWS,
and CASSIN'S FINCH -- all on breeding territories. The main roads
are in good shape and hard, with just the occasional puddle to cross
and no need for four-wheel drive. There are a few places where you
might appreciate some extra clearance, however. We could not reach
the Wenatchee Mountain radio tower on the crest of Naneum Ridge. The
road is entirely blocked by snow at about 6400 feet elevation, and it
looks to be another couple of weeks until it melts the rest of the
way open.

Brenda is preparing a short guide to birding the Colockum Wildlife
Area, which stretches eastward from Naneum Ridge to the Columbia.
The guide will be published soon in *Earthcare Northwest*, the
newsletter of the Seattle Audubon Society.

Hal Opperman
Medina, Washington
mailto:halop at accessone.com