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By Scott Harper The Virginian-Pilot May 15, 2012 SUSSEX COUNTY Pink, featherless and just 4 days old, the newest addition to awildlife recovery experiment here in the pine woods of Virginia wasdefinitely not ready for the media on Monday. The baby red-cockaded woodpecker, still blind and barely able tolift its head, seemed more ready for a nap or another snack of antsand tree roaches. But the chick played along and posed for the cameras, sitting upand letting its swollen belly sag in the hand of a scientist whohad just retrieved the newborn from its nest some 35 feet up anearby pine tree. "At this stage, they look almost prehistoric," said BryanWatts, the retrieving scientist, who also is director of the Centerfor Conservation Biology at the College of William & Mary."But they change pretty quick. Give it a few days." Watts, along with colleagues from state and federal wildlifeagencies and The Nature Conservancy, had plenty to celebrateMonday. They were inspecting nests and trying to determine how manychicks were born this year in the Piney Grove Preserve, a2,700-acre sanctuary bought and managed by the conservancy for overa decade now. It is the only place where red-cockaded woodpeckersare known to live and breed in Virginia. But the real news was that after 10 years of trying to revive thisfederally endangered species and the rarest bird in the state,scientists had reached a milestone: this year, for the first time,10 pairs of adult woodpeckers are nesting and producing chickswithin the preserve - a key goal in recovery plans drawn by theU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "This is a big day," said Brian van Eerden, a conservancybiologist who has spent years coaxing a woodpecker renaissance inSussex County, about an hour west of downtown Norfolk. "What asuccess story. It adds hope to our ability to restore thisremarkable ecosystem." Southeast Virginia used to be home to thick, plentiful forests oflong-leaf pines. But decades of logging and development have nearlywiped out these great trees, taking with them the habitat forred-cockaded woodpeckers. The birds need old-growth pine trees, at least 50 years old, withsoft wood and a fungus growing on them. This condition allows thewoodpeckers to carve their nests within the trees and to root forfavored insects hiding within the bark. Fast-growth forests favored by timber and paper companies replacedlong-leaf pines and, throughout much of the South, the birds lostout, becoming an endangered species in 1970 across their range fromVirginia to Florida and Texas. But that is slowly changing, with military bases taking steps toprotect birds on their lands and timber operations adopting morescientifically sensitive strategies. Red-cockaded woodpeckers are often mistaken for their moreplentiful cousins, downy woodpeckers, because they look so muchalike. Both species are about the same size, but the backs of therare woodpeckers are lined with a connecting pattern of white dots,and males have a patch of red near their eyes. At the low point, in 2002, the Piney Grove Preserve played host tojust two nesting pairs and perhaps a dozen birds overall. Therewere concerns they would go extinct. The conservancy started importing red-cockaded woodpeckers fromSouth Carolina, where populations also were struggling but not asbadly as in Virginia. Slowly, the numbers improved. Mike Wilson, a biologist with the Center for Conservation Biology,who keeps track of woodpeckers at Piney Grove, said the sanctuarycontained 47 birds in December, though three are thought to havewandered off or died before breeding season began this spring. He expects about 30 chicks to be born this year and has startedattaching bands to ankles to identify where and when the birds wereborn. The pink newborn retrieved Monday, for example, came from anest in Cluster 6 and has two siblings. Red-cockaded woodpeckers raise their young in teams, with othermales in a cluster helping to forage for food or hanging out innests when parents are busy or away. They also tend to stay close to where they were born. For thatreason, the conservancy has acquired an additional 500 acres forthe preserve and has helped Virginia officials buy adjacent landsfor a new state forest and wildlife management area forwoodpeckers, long-leaf pines, quails and other species in need ofhelp. The scientists inspected two of the 10 nests Monday and were hopingto place bands on the chicks' pink, skinny ankles. However, thebirds were too big in one nest and too small in the other. But scientists will be busy in the coming days, trying to keep tabson 10 active nest sites, the largest population they've ever had todeal with. Scott Harper, 757-446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com. I am an expert from acrylic-displayholders.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Acrylic Menu Holders Manufacturer , China Acrylic Pop Display, Acrylic Menu Holders,and more.
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