Abagael Greenwood, South Harrison Township Elementary School
Gloucester County
Red-headed woodpecker. Gloucester County. Abby Greenwood
Red-headed Woodpecker
Hello, I am a Red-headed Woodpecker. I am going to tell you how you can help save my species. I am going to tell you a few things about our kind that might help you to know a little more about us. For right now, we are on the threatened list. If steps are not taken, we could be put on the endangered list, which is even closer to being extinct. That means lost forever!
Now I will tell you about where we live, and some ways to help protect our habitat. One way is to clean up our habitats. Not just my mine but all of the habitats. My habitats are open woods, both upland and wetlands that contain dead or dying trees, and sparse undergrowth. Habitats like this are usually created after fires or floods, or even bug outbreaks. We like to eat seeds, nuts, fruits, bugs, other bird eggs, and mice. Unlike most woodpeckers, we don't dig into the trees for our bugs, we fly to try and catch them in the air. During the winter we store food in crevices in the tree where we are nesting.
There are a few reasons as to why our numbers have gone down so much. One is that we were hunted by sportsmen for our beautiful plumage. Another is because of the trees that we like to nest in are being cut down. Pine trees are used for telephone poles, and areas where we inhabit are being developed at a very fast rate.
Many things are being done to try and help the population of Red-headed Woodpeckers rebuild. Monitoring populations, and capture and release programs are trying to rebuild numbers now. Hopefully soon we can be taken off of the Threatened List of animals.
Written by: Abagael Greenwood
South Harrison Township Elementary, Harrison
Teacher:Mr. Dunner