44 Richard R. Repasky and Phillip D. Doerr 



A: 124, B: 118) were much larger than the coefficients of variation of 

 tree size (group A: 28, B: 38). Group A selected areas of greater tree 

 density and smaller tree size, as might be expected. 



Group B did not select foraging areas on the basis of any of the 

 variables that we measured. Perhaps this was due to conditions within 

 its home range. Tree density was nearly twice that in group A's home 

 range, and the understory was much lower than it was in group A's 

 home range. Group B, therefore, may have had less need to select 

 foraging areas on the basis of habitat quality than did group A. 



Foraging Data 



Foraging substrates. Most foraging took place on pines (Table 3). 

 Living pines were used much more than dead pines. Males spent more 

 time than females foraging on limbs, and when foraging on the trunk, 

 males generally foraged higher than females. 



With two exceptions, these results are qualitatively similar to those 

 for red-cockaded woodpeckers in other regions (Ligon 1968, 1970, 

 Morse 1972, Skorupa and McFarlane 1976, Nesbitt et al. 1978, Skorupa 

 1979, Ramey 1980, Hooper and Lennartz 1981, Porter et al. 1985). 

 First, the dead trees that were used extensively during December were 

 different from those used at other times of the year and in other regions. 

 Dead trees used outside of December were recently dead and retained 

 pine needles as described by Hooper and Lennartz (1981). By contrast, 

 dead trees used in December had long been dead and were missing large 

 limbs and some bark. None had died of lightning strikes during the 

 previous summer. Extensive use of long-dead pines has not been reported 

 previously, although Hooper and Lennartz (1981) reported a single 

 observation. Second, the extraction of seeds from open longleaf pine 

 cones has not been reported previously. Hooper and Lennartz (1981) 

 reported use during September and October of green, unopened longleaf 

 pine cones that contained insect larvae. During November and 

 December, however, we observed seeds being removed from open cones, 

 although this activity was a small percentage of foraging time and did 

 not occur during sampling. 



Foraging behavior. Most foraging time was spent peering and 

 poking (group A: 55%, group B: 53%; Table 4). Less time was spent 

 pecking (group A: 27%, group B: 36%; Table 4), and the least time was 

 spent gleaning (group A: 15%, group B: 9%; Table 4). 



Foraging substrate and behavior were not independent (group A: 

 X 2 = 43.6, df = 8, P < 0.001; group B: X 2 = 38.6, df = 8, P < 0.001), 

 indicating that some seasonal variation in foraging behavior was 

 attributable to changes in substrate use. Too few data were available to 

 estimate the proportion of time spent in various foraging behaviors on 

 each substrate. Niche overlap was therefore based on substrate use. 



