Code

CCBTR-23-02

Publication Date

2023

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 2022 breeding season, Piney Grove Preserve supported 16 potential breeding groups (including one in the Big Woods) that produced 33 fledglings. All potential breeding groups made breeding attempts except for cluster 8. The population as a whole had a reproductive rate of 2.50 ±0.26 (mean ± SE) young/breeding group with a success rate of 93.8% (15 of 16). Fledging rate for the 15 productive pairs was 2.20±0.59. Of the 56 eggs monitored in 2022, 40 (71.4%) hatched, 39 (69.6%) survived to banding age, and 33 (58.9%) fledged. Birds that fledged included 20 females and 13 males (Table 2). Twenty-two of these birds were retained and detected during the winter count. Piney Grove supported 16 potential breeding groups (including one in Big Woods) in 2022 that produced 33 fledglings (Table 1). All potential breeding groups made breeding attempts except for cluster 8. Cluster 6 made two breeding attempts (see details below). The population as a whole had a reproductive rate of 2.50 ±0.26 (mean ± SE) young/breeding group with a success rate of 93.8% (15 of 16). Fledging rate for the 15 productive pairs was 2.20±0.59. Of the 56 eggs monitored in 2022, 40 (71.4%) hatched, 39 (69.6%) survived to banding age, and 33 (58.9%) fledged (Table 1). Birds that fledged included 20 females and 13 males (Table 2). Twenty-two of these birds were retained and detected during the winter count. During the calendar year of 2022, 120 individual red-cockaded woodpeckers were identified within Piney Grove Preserve and Big Woods including 87 birds that were hatched at Piney Grove during previous years and 33 nestlings that fledged during the 2022 breeding season. Forty birds (33%) were in their fourth year (fifth calendar year) or more and fourteen birds (12%) were at least in their tenth year (eleventh calendar year). One bird was sixteen years old (17th calendar year). Moving into the breeding season there were 80 birds identified within Piney Grove Preserve and Big Woods distributed among 16 clusters. This is the most birds Piney Grove has carried heading into the breeding season (14 more than in 2021). The number of birds per cluster varied from three to ten with a mean of 5.00±0.47 (mean±SE). Eighty-nine birds were detected during the 2022 winter survey. This represents a 10% increase over the winter of 2021 and an 11% increase over the winter of 2020. Birds present during the winter survey included 22 of the 33 birds fledged in 2022 and 67 adult birds hatched in previous years. Group size in winter ranged from three to nine birds and averaged 5.56±0.45 (mean±SE) birds per group.

Topic

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

Species

Red-cockaded Woodpecker

Source

Center for Conservation Biology Technical Report Series, CCBTR-23-02

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