MODOC WOODPECKER. Dryobates villosusorius Oberholser

Field characters.—A woodpecker of size of Robin or slightly less. Upper surface black, with a broad white stripe down middle of back; whole under surface, including outer tail feathers, uniformly white; small spots on wing, stripe below eye, and another stripe behind eye, white. (See pl. 5f). Adult males have narrow fringe of red feathers across back of head, but this is not often to be seen at a distance. Voice: A single sharp note, speenk, uttered at irregular intervals.

Occurrence.—Resident in moderate numbers throughout the region except in the Lower Sonoran Zone and above timber line. Observed at Pleasant Valley and thence eastward to vicinity of Mono Lake; highest station of record, Warren Fork of Leevining Creek at 9300 feet altitude. Forages in more open stands of both coniferous and deciduous trees.

The Modoc Woodpecker is but a local race of the wide-ranging 'hairy' woodpecker, which is found practically everywhere in the forested regions of North America. As with most of the allied forms, the present race ranges through several life zones, from the scattered digger pines at Pleasant Valley eastward through the main forest belt to the sparse tracts of Jeffrey pines in the vicinity of Mono Lake. It is nowhere really common, even for a woodpecker; it reaches its greatest numbers in the upper part of the Transition Zone and in the Canadian Zone.

The Modoc Woodpecker is identical in pattern of coloration with the much smaller Willow Woodpecker, save that the outer tail feathers of the larger bird are pure white, whereas in the smaller species they are barred with black. The special plumage features which are associated with differences in sex and age are likewise identical in the two species. Adult males have a narrow fringe of red feathers across the back of the head (pl. 5f), whereas young males have the whole top of the head red. Adult females entirely lack the red color and young females have only a few scattered red feathers on the crown.

A comparison of the weights of these two woodpeckers shows that the Modoc is about two or three times as heavy as the Willow Woodpecker. Thus, male Modoc Woodpeckers weigh on the average 68.1 grams (2.4 ounces) and females 58.9 (2.1 ounces), whereas Willow Woodpeckers weigh 27.0 (0.95) and 24.4 grams (0.86 ounces) respectively. The Nuttall Woodpecker, a Sonoran Zone species of similar build and proportions to the two species just mentioned, weighs 41.2 (1.45) and 34.4 grams (1.2 ounces), for the two sexes, respectively, being thus fairly intermediate.

During the summer months we rarely saw in a morning's walk more than one individual of the Modoc Woodpecker. But in Yosemite Valley, during the winter season, the birds seemed as noisy and conspicuous as they had been quiet and unobtruding before. Perhaps this impression was enhanced by the absence of the voices of summer birds. One of our notebook records (December 20, 1914) reads:

Four seen in two and a half hours; the most noticeable bird, making enough noise to give the impression of many. No "rolling," but much tapping and frequent high-pitched "speenks"; birds working on dead limbs of tall cottonwoods and black oaks on the Valley floor.

The Modoc Woodpecker forages on both evergreen and deciduous trees, favoring the latter, perhaps, during the winter months. In summer it is usually rather quiet, particularly so as compared with the noisy California Woodpecker. It gains much of its food in the outer portions of the bark, where a few strokes of moderate intensity enable it to secure any insect or grub living near the surface of the tree.

At the margin of the forest above Coulterville, May 31, 1915, a Modoc Woodpecker was seen foraging in a yellow pine. The tree in question had recently been killed by the boring beetles which were common in the western forests that year. The woodpecker was going over the tree in systematic manner, working out and in along one branch, then ascending the trunk to the next branch where it would repeat the performance. The bird was flaking off the outer layers of the bark without much evident expenditure of effort, for little noise of tapping was heard; it was feeding presumably on the boring beetles or their larvae.

At Gentrys on October 23, 1915, a Modoc Woodpecker was seen enlarging a hole in a pine tree, perhaps preparing a shelter for use during the winter months. The bird worked actively, but paused frequently as if to inspect its work.

At Chinquapin, on May 19, 1919, a pair of these woodpeckers was seen going through their courting antics. A male was in a large yellow pine at the edge of a logged-over area, calling almost incessantly. His usual speenk had become spenk-ter-ter-ter, a staccato run repeated every few seconds. The female answered in like voice but uttered the trill less often. The male changed his location many times, and after protracted calling on his part, the female flew to the same tree.

On June 24, 1920, in Yosemite Valley, a brood of full-grown young in a row of large cottonwoods near the Ahwahnee footbridge was much in evidence by reason of their calls and active behavior.