WOODPECKERS: Family Picidac [385] 



County, California. In Oregon: Permanent resident of western Oregon from Columbia 

 River south to Rogue River and thence southwestward to Coos and Curry Counties, 

 including western slope of Cascades south to northern edge of Rogue River Valley. 

 (See Figure 10.) 



AUDUBON (1839) described Gairdner's Woodpecker (Plate 69, B~) from 

 specimens collected at Fort Vancouver, Oregon; Cooper and Suckley 

 (1860) reported it from western Oregon; and Johnson (1880), Anthony 

 (1886), and Woodcock (1902.) listed it as a common resident of western 

 Oregon. Our own numerous specimens, published records, and field notes 

 reveal it to be an exceedingly common bird in the Willamette Valley and 

 a less common but regular resident of the coast country. We have one 

 winter bird of this race from Grants Pass, taken December 16, 1918 

 (Jewett Coll. No. 4739), and numerous intergrades that will be discussed 

 under D. p. turatii. 



The species is most abundant along the Columbia and Willamette 

 Rivers, where it builds its nest in the old willow stubs and branches, 

 usually within 10 to 12. feet of the ground. Woodcock (1902.) stated that 

 Mr. Warner's collection contained four sets of eggs from Salem, taken 

 between May 4 and 15, with four or live eggs in each set. Braly furnished 

 us with the unpublished record of a nest containing young that he found 

 on Sauvies Island, May 19, 1932.. 



This tiny black and white woodpecker, smallest representative of the 

 family in Oregon, is a familiar sight in the wooded bottoms along the 

 streams, where, because of the thick, almost junglelike growth, the 

 tap-tap-tap of the chisel-like bill is frequently heard long before the indus- 

 trious carpenter is sighted. Tame and unsuspicious, it is one of the birds 

 most easily observed by the person just beginning the study of birds; 

 and, because of its relative abundance, it is one of the most constant 

 elements of the winter bird population. It is equally abundant in summer, 

 but the thick foliage makes it much more difficult to see it at that season. 



Willow Woodpecker: 



Dryobates fubescens turatii (Malher be) 



DESCRIPTION. Like D. p. gairdneri, but smaller, with lighter under parts and the 

 tertials spotted with white. Si%e: Length 5.55-6.41, wing 3.46-3.81, tail i.oo- 

 1.38, exposed culmen .57-. 67. Nest and eggs: Identical with those of D. p. gairdneri. 

 DISTRIBUTION. General: Upper Austral and Transition Zones of California, except 

 desert ranges, and extreme northwest coast extending into southern Oregon. In 

 Oregon: Permanent resident of Klamath, Jackson, and Josephine Counties. (See 

 Figure 10.) 



THE BREEDING WOODPECKERS of this group from southern Klamath County 

 and the Rogue River Valley are exceedingly puzzling. One from Medford, 

 May 2.1, 1919 (Gabrielson's Coll. No. 340), has been identified by Ober- 

 holser as D. p. turatii and so recorded (Gabrielson 192.30). We now have 



