One Second in Nature is a mirrored image again in time to a second of discovery as I explored the pure settings round me. By way of the sharing of this second, is my hope that readers will grow to be motivated to study extra about our surroundings and its inhabitants, and grow to be passionate advocates for conservation. One Second in Nature is a Reflections of the Pure World Weblog Put up Sequence by Jim Acquire
THE LEWIS’S WOODPECKER MOMENT – One other a kind of “Unusual however common” winter guests in Jap Stanislaus County is the Lewis’s Woodpecker. On this morning in late September while driving slowly alongside Cooperstown Highway I observed a distant crow-sized chook perched on the tiptop of a Blue Oak tree on the sting of the grasslands. This chook did an agile lunge upwards in a flycatching habits and shortly alighted again on the identical perch, solely to repeat the acrobatic manuver but once more. This flycatching habits took me again in time to 1988 after I had my first “lifer” Lewis’s Woodpecker identified to me whereas strolling alongside the street to the La Grange dam with Harold and Sherrie Reeve. Harold had identified this particular habits that was fairly peculiar for a woodpecker.
This morning 9/30/2025, the intial commentary was accompanied by the calls of two extra Lewis’s Woodpeckers flying between close by oak timber. I hardly ever discover Lewis’s Woodpeckers which might be cooperative as they often shortly distance themselves from people. With my longest lens although I used to be in a position to seize their antics as they interacted. The one which I assumed to be theis yr’s child by no means wandered removed from the highest of this specific tree and was fond of creating a number of squeeky calls. The others would strategy it, however I by no means noticed them try to feed it.
A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME WOULD SMELL AS SWEET – The American Ornithological Society (AOS) introduced in 2023 that it will systematically change the English widespread names of all chook species named after individuals within the U.S. and Canada. There was no indication but by the AOS as to what the brand new identify is likely to be, however a few of the main solutions embody: Collared Woodpecker, Rose-bellied Woodpecker, and Crow Woodpecker.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION – Lewis’s Woodpecker is a hanging, medium-sized woodpecker with a shiny green-black again, deep pink face, and comfortable pinkish-red stomach, contrasting with broad grey collar and wings. Its sluggish, buoyant flight and crow-like wingbeats set it aside from different woodpeckers.
STATUS IN CALIFORNIA’S CENTRAL VALLEY – Lewis’s Woodpecker happens sporadically in California’s Central Valley, primarily in the course of the winter months, the place it favors open oak woodlands, riparian groves, and agricultural edges with scattered snags. It’s typically unusual and irregular in incidence, with numbers various yr to yr relying on acorn crops and broader inhabitants actions. The species is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, although it has skilled regional declines resulting from habitat loss and fireplace suppression that cut back appropriate nesting and foraging websites. Pure historical past observations spotlight its aerial foraging habits, caching of acorns and bugs, and desire for nesting in lifeless timber, with breeding largely restricted to montane habitats exterior the valley.
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