Show 44 4 ka 4 11 investigating INVEST G T THE woodpecker U acken it lah HE california woodcock wood pock or er to Is distri distributed buted throughout most of the oa oak k covered mountain and foothill region of call california forita n northern 0 r t h e a n lower ca california li fornia and 7 western oregon it lives generally wherever larke large oaks are abundant and from these it gets much of its living A peculiar habit has attracted much attention among nonscientific observers that of drill ing holes boles in tree trunks or largo large branches in each of which to Is placed an acorn or other nut chero hil bird is abunda abundant nl all dead trunks or branch branches ve of any size alzo and many live ones are punctured with these holes boles frequently lees than an inch apart where trees in tile tho proper condition are n not ot numerous enough it attacks buildings and drills holes in the cor nices of houses or spires of churches churchea also it bores into telephone and telegraph poles and fence posts for the laboratory investigation of the food of the california woodpeck k I 1 jat I 1 I 1 Ls yellow bellied sapsucker er 84 stomachs were available the food was found to consist ol of 2959 per cent of animal matter to per cent of vegetable their principal item ot 0 food la Is acorns this amounts to per cent odthe of the yearly diet and was found in 68 stomachs whore almonds are largely cultivated and this bird Is abundant it exhibits a strong liking tor for this nut and stores it instead of acorns in some cases it has been found necessary to shoot the birds whenever they entered the orchard in order to save the crop the foregoing shows that the food of the california woodpecker Is not of much economic importance it does not prey extensively upon the products of industry except occasionally upon almonds and its insect diet con bains practically no useful species its worst sin la is its propensity to puncture the cornices cornicks cor nices and casings of buildings and telegraph and telephone poles in order to store its nuts tor for winter use usa thimas this is a serious injury and will justify the destruction of the bird if no other remedy can be devised the red bellied woodpecker ranges over the united states as far west as central texas and eastern colorado and as far north as new york michigan and southern minnesota it Is rather more of a forest bird than some of the other woodpeckers but it Is frequently frequent frely ly seen in thinly timbered country in florida the bird has haa been observed to eat aran oranges gesto to an injurious extent it attacks overripe over ripe fruit and picks holes in it and sometimes completely devours it the fruit selected Is that which is dead ripe so it Is not often that the damage from this source Is serious the bird also sometimes attacks the trunks of orange trees as w well ell as others androes and does somo some harm for investigation of the food of the red bellied woodpecker stomachs were available the food was found california wooda acker to contain 2094 per cent of animal matter to of vegetable the former consists of insects and spiders with a few tree frola and lizards while the latter may be considered a mado made up of grain fruit and roast mast among the animal food a tow few word wood borers were found aind caterpillars averaged per cent of tho the liet corn was tho the only grain found poison ivy seeds form ft a largo large part of the diet and are oaten eaten in every month from august to february inclusive this bird shows a decided taste for fruit and may do injury as it has in the florida orange groves the contents of the stomachs atom achS however show that the wild fruits are preferred and probably only when these have been replaced by cultivated varieties irany Is any mischief done three toed are found to bo be very beneficial those these are residents of practically nil all parts of the united states stales the great bulk of the food of these birds consists of the larvae of wood boring beetles or moths those are oaten eaten with great regularity throughout tho the your year but somewhat more in tho the colder months than in summer tho the total of wood larvae including both caterpillars and beetles found lu in the food of these birds amounts to per cent their vegetable food may be included in four items fruit fault mast cambium and rubbish the foregoing shown that those these woodpeckers act as con conserva sorva tors of the forest in the strongest sense as three fourths of their food consists of tho the direct anomies of forest trees it la is unfortunate that in most places three toed woodpeckers aro are not very numerous and tor for tills reason they should be protected ind and encouraged in every way possible of the several species of woodpeckers in tho the united states only three may bo be properly classed assap suckers those birds have short bushy tongues not adapted to tho the capture of insects while ade other woodpeckers have bavo tongues with barbed tips which can bo be extended to spear luckless borers or other insects whose burrows in the wood have havo been reached by their powerful beaks tha sapsuckers sap suckers practically do not toed feed on wood borers or other forest enemies their chief insect food Is ants about 16 15 per cent of their diet consists of cambium and the inner bark of trees and they drink a great deal of sap the parts of the tree trea injured by sap sapsuckers suckers era are those that carry the rich sap which nourishes the gr owing growing wood and bark it Is evident therefore that the birds attack on trees may have serious results when a small proportion of the bark and I 1 cambium are removed the i vitality of TT i T in i n t rat in the tree may only be lowered or branches hero here and there may be killed when the tha injury to Is more ex ten sivo as aa it often Is the iho treo tree may be completely girdled and or of course dies holes made by sap sapsuckers suckers go clear through the barkand bark and often in 0 o the wood sapsucker picking urea trees giving rise to pitch ditch streams gummy and do f erml t I 1 e a of the trunks small fruit trees especially apple aro are often killed and whole orchards have boon been destroyed by these birds era ere are known to attack no fewer than ban kinds of trees shrubs and vines in the united states 63 of which are often seriously injured and 32 have been killed hickory trees aro are favorites ot of the sapsucker and it Is estimated that the annual less on hickory alone from this cause Is about it has baa boon been found that sapsucker work un fits for use such important ornamental woods as mahogany black walnut red bellied woodpecker white oak yellow poplar chestnut cherry sweet gum and hard bard mavle maple that it seriously blemishes woods prized for peculiar qualities such is ash basswood cypress red cedar holly buckeye buc koye and dogwood and that it sometimes destroys the value of wood even tor for heavy beavy construction as southern 5 out 11 orn b basswood ass wood spruce and western hemlock it ta is evident that sap suckers do not deserve protection the yellow bellied sapsucker to Is the only woodpecker pecker having the front of the head from bill to crown red in combination with a black patch on the breast the red breasted sap aap sucker Is the ho only woodpecker that has the whole head and throat red great care should be taken to distinguish ting sapsuckers Bop sap suckers froni from woodpeckers |