Code

CCBTR-22-01

Publication Date

2022

Abstract

The Virginia population of red-cockaded woodpeckers is the northernmost throughout the species range and has been in eminent danger of extinction for more than 30 years. The Piney Grove Preserve represents a nucleus for recovery in the state and the focus of a multi-organizational partnership designed to increase the population to a sustainable level. The partnership has executed a program of aggressive habitat management, cavity-tree management and woodpecker population monitoring and management that has resulted in a quadrupling of the breeding population since the early 2000s. During the 2021 breeding season, Piney Grove Preserve supported 16 potential breeding groups (including one in the Big Woods) that produced 32 fledglings. All groups made breeding attempts, including the cluster in Big Woods for the third time, though two clusters (cluster 5 and Big Woods) failed to produce fledglings. The population as a whole had a reproductive rate of 2.1 ±0.28 (mean±SE) young/breeding group. The 16 groups that made breeding attempts had a success rate of 87.5% (14 of 16). Fledging rate for the 14 productive pairs was 2.4±0.22. Of the 60 eggs followed in 2021, 44 (73.3%) hatched, 35 (58.3%) survived to banding age, and 32 (55.0%) fledged. Birds that fledged included 18 females and 14 males. Nineteen of these birds were retained and detected during the winter count. During the calendar year of 2021, 107 individual red-cockaded woodpeckers were identified within Piney Grove Preserve including 75 birds that were hatched at Piney Grove during previous years and 32 nestlings that fledged during the 2021 breeding season. Forty-two birds (39%) were in their fourth year or more and thirteen birds (12%) were at least in their tenth year. One bird was 15 years old (16th calendar year). Moving into the breeding season there were 66 birds identified within Piney Grove Preserve distributed among 16 clusters. This is the second-most birds Piney Grove has carried heading into the breeding season (one fewer than in 2020). The number of birds per cluster varied from two to eight with a mean of 4.13±0.47 (mean+SE). Eighty-one birds were detected during the 2021 winter survey. This represents a 1% increase over the winter of 2020 and a 5% increase over the winter of 2019. Birds present during the winter survey included 19 of the 32 birds fledged in 2021 and 62 adult birds hatched in previous years. Group size in winter ranged from three to nine birds and averaged 5.06 ± 0.41 (mean±SE) birds per group.

Topic

Abund/Distr, Habitat Quality/Use/Movement, Breeding/Demography/Pop Dynamics, Relocation/Reintroduction

Species

Red-cockaded Woodpecker

Source

Center for Conservation Biology Technical Report Series, CCBTR-22-01. William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA.

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