Black-backed woodpecker makes Pushaw appearance Species usually chooses recently-burned forests for home

A board meeting may be a good setting for spirited debate, not necessarily one of excitement and surprise. However, that’s exactly what we got when we gathered to discuss our Audubon chapter’s progress at board members Bob and Sandi Duchesne’s house.

The Duchesne’s backyard, a small expanse of lawn studded with coniferous trees, slopes down from the house to Pushaw Lake. A large picture window looks out onto this tableau, presenting a beautiful and serene view of the lake and the surrounding trees.

Because all of us are interested in birds, we’d glance out every now and then to see if any were around. At one point, I noticed a woodpecker inspecting a few dead pines. Something about it was unusual; it seemed darker than the more common hairy and downy woodpeckers that are so numerous. Then I noticed a yellow patch on top of its head, and realized that it was something different. I was slow to react, but luckily someone else saw and wasted no time in calling everyone’s attention to it.

“Did you see that? There’s a black-backed woodpecker!” Jerry Smith, our chapter president, exclaimed. His voice came out in an explosive rush, and the effect on the rest of the room was electric.

Chairs went flying as people dove to the window. Shouts of surprise and excitement filled the room as everyone spotted this uncommon bird, which some of us (myself included) had never seen before. We were all treated to great views of it as it nonchalantly foraged on the trunk of a tree, searching for food.

Although this woodpecker is widely distributed across North America, it is uncommon to see because it is closely tied to certain environmental conditions. These birds seemed to have adapted to use areas of coniferous forests that have recently been burned. They will also sometimes frequent the edges of clearings or other forest disturbances, but fire is their closest ally.

The bird’s name is the most obvious indicator of this relationship. Unlike most other woodpeckers, whose backs, are to varying degrees, striped with white, this bird’s back is entirely black. As it forages on the trunk of a burned tree, it needs only to freeze in place to avoid detection by any sharp-eyed raptors.

Burned spruce and pine trees also provide a perfect breeding ground for this bird’s favorite food: wood-boring beetles. Researchers have well documented that the population of black-backed woodpeckers increases substantially in an area one to three years after it has been burned. It seems the bird then enjoys a population explosion, “irrupting” into areas outside of its normal range. The last large irruption of black-backeds occurred in 1974-75.

Non-birders may ask, “Why get so excited about just a bird?” For the answer, I would like to quote a famous ornithologist. It was Roger Tory Peterson who once said that birds “are the most beautiful expressions of reality.”

In a world where reality can also get pretty ugly, this keeps us young at heart.

Chris Corio, a volunteer at Fields Pond Nature Center in Holden, can be reached at fieldspond@juno.com