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• Scientific name:  Picoides borealis
• In the early 1900s, John James Audubon reported that the red-cockaded woodpecker was found “abundantly” in the pine forests of the southeastern United States. Historically, this woodpecker's range extended from Florida to New Jersey, as far west as Texas and Oklahoma, and inland to Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee, with an original population numbering over 1.5 million.
• Today it is estimated that there are about 6,000 family units (groups) of red-cockaded woodpeckers, or 15,000 birds, living in clusters (groups of cavity trees) from Florida to Virginia and west to southeast Oklahoma and eastern Texas, representing less than 1 percent of the woodpecker's  population at the time of European settlement.
• The red-cockaded woodpecker has been on the endangered species list since October 1970 (under a law that preceded the Endangered Species Act of 1973).
• About the size of the common cardinal, the red-cockaded woodpecker is approximately 7 inches long, with a wingspan of about 15 inches. Its back is barred with black and white horizontal stripes. The red-cockaded woodpecker's most distinguishing feature is a black cap and nape (the back of the neck) that encircle large white cheek patches.
• The red-cockaded woodpecker makes its home in mature, open pine forests with grassy or herbaceous understory, few midstory trees, and pines averaging 60 to 100 years old.
• The red-cockaded woodpecker is the only species of woodpecker that excavates its cavities exclusively in living pine trees, usually in older trees infected with red heart fungus, which softens the heartwood and makes cavity excavation easier.
• The red-cockaded woodpecker has a complex social system. The birds live in groups which may include a mated pair, their current year’s offspring and helpers. These helpers are usually adult male birds, typically the son of one or both of the breeding pair. These young males help with incubating eggs, feeding young, constructing new cavities and defending the group’s territory. Young females are more likely to disperse, but RCWs are not far-ranging birds. If suitable habitat is not close by, the new generation of birds may not succeed.
• Females lay 2-4 eggs, in cavities usually created by males, in mid-April.
• Incubation lasts 10-12 days.
• Young are fledged in about 24-27 days.
• A woodpecker group roosts and nests in a cluster of cavity trees, which may include one to 30 trees occupying up to 10 acres. Most clusters have cavities under construction, some cavities completed and in use, and some abandoned and occupied by other animals.
• Red-cockaded woodpeckers have declined along with the quantity and quality of the pine forests they need for nesting and foraging. The overall number of older pines and the size of the forests have both decreased. The remaining forestland is highly fragmented, making it hard for new generations of birds to find suitable sites. Regular fires help maintain open forests the birds prefer; fire suppression has had a detrimental effect on the red-cockaded population.
• Ecologically, the red-cockaded woodpecker is largely responsible for initiating and excavating most of the cavities used by at least 27 different animals living in southern pine forests, including other woodpeckers, chickadees, bluebirds, titmice, wood ducks, screech owls, flying squirrels, and several species of snakes, tree frogs, and insects (wasps and bees).
• Cavities in active use by RCWs have numerous, small resin wells around the hole which exude sap. The birds regularly peck at the resin wells to keep the resin flowing.   The continuous flow of resin deters predators, especially snakes.
• The diet of the red-cockaded woodpecker consists chiefly of insects but may also include small fruits and seeds in season.
• “Yankee Doodle Bird” – Cockaded refers to a small red streak on each side of the male bird’s head. It is taken from the term “cockade,” which refers to an ornament worn on a hat as a badge. During the Revolutionary War, British soldiers had very elaborate uniforms, including hats with cockades, which the colonists laughingly referred to as “macaroni.” The Continental Army did not have fancy uniforms and often used feathers in their hats for decoration. Thus, the source of the lyrics from the song, Yankee Doodle Dandy, “... stuck a feather in his hat and called it macaroni.”

Potlatch’s Management of Red-cockaded Woodpeckers at the Moro Big Pine Project Site

• Potlatch Forest Holdings, Inc., began keeping red-cockaded woodpecker records in 1976, when the company also began identifying nesting cavities and taking active measures to manage the habitat in southern Arkansas for the endangered woodpeckers.
• In 1995, Potlatch and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service initiated a Habitat Conservation Plan for the red-cockaded woodpecker.
• Since 2002, Potlatch has worked with The Wildlife Company to monitor the RCW population on its landholdings.
• Since 2003, Potlatch has surveyed all RCW groups annually to determine the number of birds present and to band all newly fledged birds.
• Since 2003, Potlatch has banded 49 birds.
• Since 2003, Potlatch researchers have used “video peepers” to monitor cavities to determine number of eggs, number of nestlings, age of nestlings, cavity conditions, and if RCWs are not present, to identify other species occupying the cavities.
• There are currently nine potential RCW breeding groups in the Moro Big Pine Project area. Two of these groups include “helpers.” In 2006 four birds within the area were fledged, bringing the current observed RCW population within the project site to 24 birds. (October 2006)
• In 2004, Potlatch established a red-cockaded woodpecker conservation area in Calhoun County.
• Since 2004, Potlatch has promoted the expansion of red-cockaded woodpeckers by installing 68 artificial cavities in the Moro Big Pine Project area and by conducting prescribed burns on more than 3,800 acres in order to maintain the open forests the birds require for survival.