[obol] Coos woodpecker?

[Tim Rodenkirk]

Acorn Woodpecker would be an equally cool find and probably more likely I agree Dave. I considered that almost immediately when I initially read the report, but either species would be a major find and I didn't want to offer an almost equally unlikely alternate possibility.  Acorn Woodpecker has not been reported in Coos County since the late 1980's or early 1990's, I think it is likely extirpated- I have looked for it extensively over the past 10 years without luck.  There has been a single Acorn Woodpecker hanging in there on the Port Orford CBC the past few years but it was not seen last year.  However, tan oaks are common in coastal Curry County but are absent in coastal Coos County. Suffice to say that either of these species would be a major find for Coos Co.

Merry migratiion!
Tim R
Coos Bay


--- On Tue, 7/29/08, David Fix Jude Power <dfxjcp at humboldt1.com> wrote:

> From: David Fix Jude Power <dfxjcp at humboldt1.com>
> Subject: [obol] Coos woodpecker?
> To: obol at oregonbirdwatch.org
> Date: Tuesday, July 29, 2008, 12:57 PM
> 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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