[obol] Coos woodpecker?

[David Fix Jude Power]

Is it possible that the bird reported on the coast at Sunset Beach was actually an Acorn Woodpecker?  Think about it: they have bold white patches in the wings and white on the head.  I think this species is MUCH more likely to occur on or near the southern Oregon coast than a White-headed Woodpecker.  They occur to within a few miles of the coast in northwest California wherever there is tan oak (a shade-tolerant forest oak whose acorns they eat).  I know Jim Rodgers has seen the species at least once at his place outside Port Orford--which has tan oak.  Even in Redwood National Park there are Acorn Woodpeckers wherever there are tan oaks here and there (I would not include this report in your Coos County book, Tim R., unless the observer can be absolutely positive that it was not an Acorn Woodpecker).   

Trivia- the northernmost tan oak known to me, a disjunct population for sure, occurs just northeast of the town of Idleyld Park, in n-c Douglas County, up a stream called Rock Creek.  It was shown to me in 1991 by a gifted and energetic botanist named Ray Godfrey, who died not long after that outing.

Steve Dougill's report of a Black-backed Woodpecker at Hart Mountain was interesting.  Are there any other reports from there?  Imagine the habitat barrier such a bird would have had to cross, if it's actually out of place.  Anyone know?

David Fix
Arcata, California

Overheard on The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer last week:
"Predictions are always difficult, especially when you're talking about the future."
/ Francis Creighton, Mortgage Bankers Association  

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