BIRDS OF THE ST. CROIX RIVER VALLEY 



97 



Black-backed Three-toed Woodpecker (Picoides arcticus) 



Status: Regular migrant, nesting species, and winter resident. 



Migration and Winter: Casual fall migrant and winter resident in all regions. 

 Dates for W^ashington County include 28 October 1964 at Stillwater (Honet- 

 schlager 1965), 2 November 1972, and 14 January 1973 (Ruber 19746). This 

 woodpecker was observed once in Chisago County on 13 November 1966, 

 and in Pine County on 28 February 1974 (Eckert 1974). Wisconsin records 

 include Polk County, 23 December 1974 at the McKenzie Creek WildUfe 

 Area (T. 37 N., R. 16 W.); Thiel (1978) hsts three winter records for Polk 

 County, although he provides no dates or locations. Douglas County records 

 include one bird 9.6 km west of Solon Springs (Sec. 36, T. 45 N., R. 15 W.) on 

 26 November 1974. One was observed on the Solon Springs CBC on 23 De- 

 cember 1976 (Table 4). 



Nesting Season Distribution: Rare and local permanent resident of the North- 

 ern Highland. Bernard (1967) considered this woodpecker a "rare permanent 

 resident that nests locally" in Douglas County. The nesting areas that Ber- 

 nard refers to occur along the Brule River. The only evidence of nesting in 

 the Valley is provided by Knudson (1978). On 3 August 1978, Knudson ob- 

 served three black-backed three-toed woodpeckers that he considered to be 

 one female and two immatures in T. 43 N., R. 13 W., Douglas County. On 21 

 or 22 August 1978, Jeffery Knudson observed a male at the same location. 

 Knudson speculated that this was a nesting record. 



Habitat: The habitat associated with most black-backed three-toed wood- 

 peckers observed during the breeding season is predominantly Lowland 

 Coniferous Forest. Coniferous trees killed by fire are particularly attractive 

 to this species. Although Knudson (1978) found adult and immature birds 

 using Jack Pine Barrens, this habitat may have been used only as feeding 

 habitat and not for nesting. This species is found in the extensive Lowland 

 Coniferous Forest of Burnett, Douglas, and Pine counties. Additional field 

 work in Lowland Coniferous Forest directly adjacent to the St. Croix River 

 may shed more light on the breeding status of this species. 



Northern Three-toed Woodpecker {Picoides tridactylus) 

 Status: Casual winter visitor. 



Records: The first bird was observed by K. H. Dueholm on 8 March 1975 in 

 Polk County, and subsequently on 15 March 1975 (Faanes 1975). This bird 

 was using a small Black Spruce-Tamarack Bog (Sec. 12, T. 34 N., R. 16 W.). 

 B. Klugow (personal communication) observed a second northern three-toed 

 woodpecker in Polk County (Sec. 3, T. 33 N., R. 15 W.) on 11 April 1976. 



FAMILY TYRANNIDAE: Tyrant Flycatchers 



Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus) 

 Status: Regular migrant and nesting species. 



