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The
Golden Fronted Woodpecker
 Description
The
Golden-fronted woodpecker
is a medium-sized to large woodpecker,
averaging 8 1/2 to 10 1/2 inches. The name comes from a
golden stripe across the face and around the back of the neck but there
may also be a small patch of yellow, orange or red in the center of
their belly. The breast is pale tan to light brown
with with
black and white “zebra-striping” or checkerboard pattern across the
back and wings. Adult males may also have a red cap on their
heads. Occasionally a Golden-fronted woodpecker is seen
sporting a purple face, but this is due to its fondness for cactus
pears, not due to any hybridization or regional color variations.
Territory
This
woodpecker likes arid and semi-arid climates and is found in the United
States southwest and northern Mexico. They are fairly adaptable to a
variety of biozones within that territory and even city living,
although they are traditionally associated with mesquite
scrubland. The golden-fronted woodpecker is a non-migratory
species, but wander extensively within the range following the breeding
season.
Behavior
Golden-fronted
woodpeckers split their diets between insects and vegetation. Vegetable
matter in the form of cactus fruit, acorns, corn and seeds may account
for 50% of this type of woodpecker’ s diet. Whether hunting insects or
seeds, their foraging habits actually change with the seasons; in the
summer they forage primarily in trees and brush, in winter it is much
more common for this type of woodpecker to forage on the
ground. Observation of these birds suggest that they share
some of the food storage habits of the red-headed woodpecker, tucking
corn and insects into safe hiding holes for later consumption.
The
golden-fronted woodpecker prefers to nest in snags or the trunks of
leaf-bearing trees, generally not above 20-25 feet above
ground. They will frequently select telephone poles or larger
fence poles, nesting near the tops. This type of woodpecker
is a an excellent excavator and can complete a nesting hole in less
than two weeks. Occasionally they will reuse old nesting sites and may
be coaxed into using nesting boxes. The female will lay four
to seven eggs and both the male and female will stay with the
hatchlings through their full nestling period, approximately a month.
Quick
Facts
- The Golden-fronted Woodpecker
is composed of four subspecies that differ in size, amount of barring
on the tail, and the color of the nape, nasal tufts, and belly. Whereas
the nape of the form found in Texas and most of Mexico is yellow to
orange, it is red on the Yucatan Peninsula and orange farther south.
The four forms were formerly considered different species.
- This
type of woodpecker was considered a threat and a menace to industrial
progress at the turn of the 20th century. They were so
aggressive
and prolific that as mass communication made its initial foray across
the United States in the form of the telegraph, these woodpeckers would
descend upon the telegraph poles and riddle them with holes.
For
a period of decades in the late 1800s and early 1900, shooting
Golden-fronted woodpeckers was not only legal, it was actively
encouraged.
- Even so, the expansion of the telegraph
and then the telephone across the U.S. ultimately enabled this
woodpecker to expand its natural range by hundreds of miles.
As
towns were settled, planted and watered, the string of suitable nesting
and foraging sites across the countryside coupled with this type of
woodpecker’s natural tendencies to wander. The combination brought this
southern species as far north as Oklahoma in the United States, a good
250 miles northwest of its previous habitat.
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