Red Loaded Woodpecker Research Paper

The Red-Cockaded Woodpecker (RCW) is one of the two-hundred species of Woodpecker, as well as the rarest. The RCW is approximately seven inches long, around the same size as a Cardinal. They have a wingspan of about 15 inches. Their back is has white and black horizontal stripes. The thing that makes these Woodpeckers so distinctive is its “black cap”. A RCW has a black head, with white cheeks, and depending on its sex will or will not have a red stripe on the side of its head. As a young male, the red stripe will be in the center of its black head and around mid-april the red will disappear and move to the side of its head, while females will always lack the red stripe.RCW’s thrive in the longleaf pine forest ecosystems in the southeastern
It’s not common that these birds have competition or interaction, they stick to themselves and their clan, and their homes in the trees. The RCW’s help keep the insect population down as well as help create homes for other birds after they move. Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers are endangered and have been for 47 years. Due to the trees they prefer, it puts them in danger. The longleaf pine trees are very prone to lightning fires. There are two main causing of the RCW’s endangered status, one natural and one due to human interaction. The natural cause, as I said, is the lightning fires, and the human reason is the logging, clearcutting and the use the pine trees they thrive in. Because the Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers were established endangered 47 years ago, they were one of the first birds to be put on the Endangered Species Act in 1973, three years after being endangered. Due to that they have been protected with creating “off limits” homes for these birds. Alongside things like moving females to clans where they are needed to breed, cutting off large tracts of forging in their habitat, and using metal plates to restrict the size of cavities. These are all way the Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers are being