Characteristics That Contribute to Nest Success of Endangered Red-headed Woodpeckers (melanerpes Erythrocephalus)

Red-headed Woodpeckers (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) are endangered because they have experienced population declines of up to 80% in the past 40 years. The purpose of this study was to identify key habitat and nest-tree characteristics that contribute to successful breeding at Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve in East Bethel, Minnesota, with the goal of making recommendations to recovery programs that are working to reverse decline of these birds. During the 2012 nesting and fledging season, 60 nesting pairs of Red-headed Woodpeckers were banded and nests were located and plotted using Garmin eTrex Legend HCx to find Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates of nests. Features of successful nests were recorded, snag and tree density were calculated, and nest success relative to land features in areas surrounding nests was assessed using Google Earth. Of these nests, 48 were successful, where at least one nestling fledged. Results showed that nest success was significantly impacted by oak savannah habitat with snags tall enough to provide nests over 8.0 m (p = 0.002) where tree densities ranged from between 49 trees/hectare and 51 trees/hectare with snag densities 12 snags/hectare and 24 snags/hectare. Additionally, access to mature woods was found to significantly impact nest success (p = 0.005). Furthermore, observations suggest that the birds need access to open fields and marshes for foraging purposes even though these landforms did not significantly correlate with nest success. Results were shared with the Red-headed Woodpecker Recovery committee of Audubon Minnesota. Dempsey PC. Characteristics that contribute to nest success of endangered Redheaded Woodpeckers (Melanerpes erythrocephalus).