The Nature Conservancy Brings Red-cockaded Woodpeckers Back to The Disney Wilderness Preserve

Second group of endangered birds moved to nature preserve to establish new breeding population

Altamonte Springs, FL — October 14, 2008 — A second group of red-cockaded woodpeckers arrived at The Nature Conservancy’s Disney Wilderness Preserve Friday to help establish a new breeding population of the endangered bird species. The birds were released for the first time into their new forested home on Saturday morning at sunrise.

Through The Nature Conservancy’s membership in the RCW Southern Range Translocation Cooperative, biologist Monica Folk trapped 10 sub-adult red-cockaded woodpeckers in Apalachicola National Forest and brought them to The Disney Wilderness Preserve. The cooperative connects sites that have surplus birds with sites where populations have declined or been extirpated but where recent improvements allow the habitat to support the birds again.

Red-cockaded woodpeckers have been forced to the brink of extinction, primarily due to loss of habitat and suppression of fire. Only a small fraction of the bird’s historic population survive.

Surveys of The Disney Wilderness Preserve in 1990 revealed several inactive tree cavities, but no red-cockaded woodpeckers. The birds were likely extirpated from the site in the 1950s or 1960s after logging occurred on the property.

The Conservancy has owned, managed and restored the preserve since 1992. In an innovative approach to mitigation, the preserve was established through the cooperative actions of The Walt Disney Company, Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, The Nature Conservancy and several public agencies.

In October 2007, the Conservancy brought 10 woodpeckers from Apalachicola National Forest. Seven out of the 10 birds released in 2007 survived the first year—a high rate of survival.

“We’ve been extremely successful in having the birds stay here,” said Monica Folk, The Nature Conservancy’s biologist at The Disney Wilderness Preserve. “Usually in these reintroductions half the birds leave the site. The Conservancy’s management of the natural habitat and efforts to restore natural ecological processes, such as growing season fire, have contributed to the good quality habitat the woodpeckers need to survive.”

Though several woodpecker pairs successfully bred in spring of 2008, the nests did not result in chicks that survived. Folk said that it’s unclear whether the eggs just did not hatch or if there was predation or competition involved.

Folk spent the last two weeks searching the deep woods of the Apalachicola National Forest for sub-adult red-cockaded woodpeckers to move to the Conservancy’s Disney Wilderness Preserve. On Thursday, she trapped the birds in wooden boxes and transported them to the preserve, located near Poinciana. The woodpeckers must be fed constantly to maintain their body weight to survive the sometimes stressful move. On Friday evening at dusk, the birds were carried by biologists and volunteers up ladders and placed in their new artificial cavities inside longleaf pines. The birds were held inside the cavity with mesh wire until the next morning, when they were released, and flew out to meet their prospective mates, in the hopes they will bond and reproduce in the spring.

The Nature Conservancy has projects to help increase the population of red-cockaded woodpeckers in Florida, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Arkansas, and Virginia.

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. The Conservancy and its more than 1 million members have protected nearly 120 million acres worldwide. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.