[374] BIRDS OF OREGON 



California Woodpecker: 



Balanosphyra formicivora bairdi (Ridgway) 



DESCRIPTION. "Adult male: Feathers around base of bill and chin black, bordered 

 by band of white or yellow; crown red; sides of head, upper parts, and chest band 

 glossy greenish; rump, wing patch and belly white. Adult female: similar but with 

 a black band separating white or yellow forehead from red crown. Young: similar 

 to adults and with same sexual differences in crown, but colors duller." (Bailey) 

 Si%e: Length 8.50-9.50, wing 5.30-5.90, tail 3.10-3.60, bill .87-1.12.. Nest: Usually 

 drilled in living trees. Eggs: 4 or 5, white. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds from southwestern Oregon south to southern Cali- 

 fornia. In Oregon: Permanent resident of southwestern Oregon from Umpqua River 

 south. 



THE HANDSOME, sleek-looking California Woodpecker was first found in 

 Oregon by Newberry, who collected it in the Umpqua Valley in 1855 

 (Baird, Cassin, and Lawrence, 1858). Bendire (1895 a) reported that he 

 saw three birds near Pelican Bay, Upper Klamath Lake. He also listed 

 the first Oregon breeding record, June 15, 1883, between Fort Klamath 

 and Jacksonville on the west slope of the Cascades and reported that 

 J. K. Lord saw this woodpecker, May 2.5, 1860, on the headwaters of 

 the Deschutes River and on the eastern slopes of the Cascades among a 

 mixed growth of pines and oaks. We have numerous records for Jackson 

 and Josephine Counties and fewer for Douglas, Coos, and Curry Counties. 

 There is one record for Lane County and an early record or two from east 

 of the Cascades. 



After Bendire's time, Jones (1900) and Woodcock (1902.) were the only 

 writers who mentioned this species as an Oregon bird until Gabrielson 

 (1931) listed it in The Birds of the Rogue River Valley. Bendire remarked 

 on its great abundance in that valley, and we wish to emphasize the fact 

 that nowhere else in Oregon is any species of woodpecker so abundant. 

 There it is one of the most conspicuous birds of the oak belt; its shining 

 plumage flashes ever in the sun as it dodges about a limb or flies in un- 

 dulating lines from tree to tree; and its noisy calls break the midday 

 silence of the hottest summer day. 



This is the species that so delights in wedging acorns into telephone 

 poles and trees until at times there seems to be no room for another nut. 

 Wherever the oaks are found from Eugene south, one is likely to find this 

 striking bird or evidence of its presence, though it does not become 

 common until south of the Umpqua. The nests are usually drilled in the 

 oak trees about which this woodpecker spends most of its life and are 

 generally well up from the ground. Patterson has reported egg dates 

 between May 2. and 19 in the Rogue River Valley. 



