Laura Erickson's For the Birds

(Recording of a Black-backed Woodpecker).

This fall migration has been an early one in Duluth–and several northern species of birds have been showing up here, too. Some people believe that means this winter’ll be a severe one–but whether the birds are really responding to current conditions or to future ones is anyone’s guess.

One of the boreal species visiting Duluth right now is the Black- backed Woodpecker. This northern relative of our familiar Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers has been seen fairly regularly at Hawk Ridge, along the Pine Ridge Trail. The old pines there are dying, and the opportunistic woodpeckers are stripping the bark off the trees, hunting for wood-boring insects within the soft wood. A birdwatcher can find beauty even in viewing an ugly tree disease.

Black-backed Woodpeckers are not common anywhere. They breed mainly in Canada and in the boreal regions of the mountainous West, but most years a few do nest in northern Minnesota. In many years one or two can be found at the boat landing at Stone’s Bridge on the Brule River in Wisconsin. When spruce budworm or larch sawfly open up a stand of trees, these birds often build up a colony, but they depart as the dying trees decay and healthy trees take their place.

When you enter a deep, dark pine woods, the first sign of this bird is usually big flakes of bark dropping to the ground. A Black-backed Woodpecker doesn’t drill when feeding–after it flakes off a chunk of bark, it probes into the wood with its beak, and then pulls insect larvae out with its long, busy tongue. A good three quarters of its food is harmful wood-boring beetles, but it isn’t above snatching an occasional insect or spider, and has even been known to eat the inner bark of trees.

The Black-backed Woodpecker is handsomer than field guides show it. It’s about the size of a Red-headed Woodpecker, with a shiny solid black back, black barring on its sides, white outer tail feathers on a black tail, and a white whisker on its mostly-black head. Males also have a bright yellow cap.

It used to be called the Black-backed Three-toed Woodpecker, and before that, the Arctic Three-toed Woodpecker. Songbirds have four toes on each foot–three point forward and one points back. Most woodpeckers have four toes, too, but only two point forward. The other two point backward, presumably to help woodpeckers maintain their balance when sitting on a vertical tree trunk. But the Black-backed Woodpecker has only three toes. Two point forward, and the third is reversible–it can point forward or back interchangeably. This probably sounds like an esoteric characteristic which could never really be observed in the field with a real live bird, but it’s not. This woodpecker, like many boreal species, is surprisingly tame, and allows very close viewing.

Maybe these invaders from the far north really do foretell a severe winter–but, then again, maybe they’re just here to stand up and tell ‘em they’re from Duluth.

(Recording of a Black-backed Woodpecker).

This is Laura Erickson, and this program has been “For the Birds.”

(I reused the script with edits, but don’t know when)

(Recording of a Black-backed Woodpecker).

This fall migration has been an early one in the Northland, and several northern species of birds have turned up here, too. Some people believe that means this winter’ll be a severe one–but whether the birds are really responding to future conditions or just to current ones is anyone’s guess.

One of the boreal species that visited Duluth this fall was the Black- backed Woodpecker. This northern relative of our familiar Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers was seen fairly regularly at Hawk Ridge, along the Pine Ridge Trail. The old pines there are dying, and the opportunistic woodpeckers were stripping the bark off the trees, hunting for wood-boring insects within the soft wood. A birdwatcher can find beauty even in viewing an ugly tree disease.

Black-backed Woodpeckers are not common anywhere. They breed mainly in Canada and in the boreal regions of the mountainous West, but most years a few do nest in northern Minnesota. In many years one or two can be found at the boat landing at Stone’s Bridge on the Brule River in Wisconsin. When spruce budworm or larch sawfly open up a stand of trees, these birds often build up a colony, but they depart as the dying trees decay and healthy trees take their place.

When you enter a deep, dark pine woods, the first sign of this bird is usually big flakes of bark dropping to the ground. A Black-backed Woodpecker doesn’t drill when feeding–after it flakes off a chunk of bark, it probes into the wood with its beak, and then pulls insect larvae out with its long, busy tongue. A good three quarters of its food is harmful wood-boring beetles, but it isn’t above snatching an occasional insect or spider, and has even been known to eat the inner bark of trees.

The Black-backed Woodpecker is handsomer than field guides show it. It’s about the size of a Red-headed Woodpecker, with a shiny solid black back, black barring on its sides, white outer tail feathers on a black tail, and a white whisker on its mostly-black head. Males also have a bright yellow cap.

It used to be called the Black-backed Three-toed Woodpecker, and before that, the Arctic Three-toed Woodpecker. Songbirds have four toes on each foot–three point forward and one points back. Most woodpeckers have four toes, too, but only two point forward. The other two point backward, presumably to help woodpeckers maintain their balance when sitting on a vertical tree trunk. But the Black-backed Woodpecker has only three toes. Two point forward, and the third is reversible–it can point forward or back interchangeably. This probably sounds like an esoteric characteristic which could never really be observed in the field with a real live bird, but it’s not. This woodpecker, like many boreal species, is surprisingly tame, and allows very close viewing.

Maybe these invaders from the far north really do foretell a severe winter–but, then again, maybe they’re just flying into town to listen in to what human meteorologists are predicting.

(Recording of a Black-backed Woodpecker).

This is Laura Erickson, and this program has been “For the Birds.”