When Gabrielson and Jewett's "Birds of Oregon" came out in 1940 they
described Lewis's Woodpecker as one of the most widespread species in
Oregon--oak savannahs in the Rogue and Willamette Valleys, riparian zones
in eastern Oregon, timberline in the Cascades. My first visit to Finley NWR
in October '69 they were impossible to miss, almost "abundant". Any bicycle
trip from my house in sw Corvallis during the cold months it was a given
l'd get them on a day list.
I hadn't thought about Starlings. Bill Thackaberry blamed a virus in
Oregon white oaks that reduced acorn crops. It occured to me earlier this
week that Acorn Woodpeckers have been steadily expanding in western Oregon
the past hundred years, and there is definitely competition between these
species. There's probably a dozen factors working against LEWO
. Detections have been up the past few years. Displacement from extensive
wildfires? I'm inclined to think the extensive wildfires have improved,
greatly expanded potential LEWO breeding grounds. The general trend
throughout the wealthy parts of the world is rapid aforestion and thus the
loss of open landscapes.
On Thu, Dec 30, 2021, 11:55 PM Roy Gerig <roygerig2.0@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Jim Kopitzke reported a Lewis' Woodpecker at Ankeny a month or two ago and
it has been hard to re-find.
Since then I have seen it about 3 times, always south of there at the
south end of the Oregon white oaks.
When my daughters were little and with my wife Levera we had 6 acres by
the Wheatland Ferry near Salem. Our land went down to the river. We lived
next door to my childhood basketball idol from OSU who led the team to
great heights in the early 1960s . I got to know him well and it was a
disappointment because he seemed to be a right wing somewhat racist
Republican.
---
It is that Lewis' Woodpeckers weren't that hard to find in the WV 40 years
ago. They seem to be almost rare now.
We had some very large Bigleaf Maples on our place and there were at
least three LEWO living there. I watched them excavate a couple of nest
holes.
When they finished they were attacked by a Starling mob and driven away.
The nest holes were taken by those Goddamned invasive birds and they
reproduced theirselves instead.
Those bastards
Roy Gerig Salem OR
