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Red-cockaded Woodpecker
The past six years have been spent working to conserve and manage the Red Hills population of Red-cockaded Woodpeckers. With the reintroduced population Tall Timbers now holding steady and a significant acreage of Red Hills’ properties conserved via easements and Safe Harbor Agreements, we hope to shift our focus of the next few years to expanded research on this important woodpecker population. Specifically, we plan to conduct detailed demographic monitoring on Arcadia Plantation and Tall Timbers Research Station by banding all adults and nestlings and monitor group composition annually.
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Arcadia Plantation encompasses the Wade Tract, a special old-growth research site, but the property also features large areas dominated mature longleaf pine and native ground cover. The Wade Tract supports approximately six woodpecker territories, while another 12 territories occur elsewhere on Arcadia. The juxtaposition of territories in old-growth and territories in mature forests provides a chance to assess whether subtle differences in survival and fecundity occur as well. In addition, we will be following the Tall Timbers population with similar intensity, and provides an opportunity to assess demographic features in an oldfield setting where the dominant trees are loblolly and shortleaf pines and native ground cover has been largely eliminated.
How and Why We Band Red-cockaded Woodpeckers
Other Useful Woodpecker Links
