DIET OF NESTLING RED-COCKADED WOODPECKERS AT THREE LOCATIONS

Abstract

Abstract We conducted a 2-yr study of the nestling diet of Red-cockaded Woodpeckers (Picoides borealis) at three locations to determine how it varied among sites. We photographed 5939 nest visits by adult woodpeckers delivering food items for nestlings. In 1994, we located cameras near three nest cavities on the Lower Coastal Plain of South Carolina and near two cavities at the Savannah River Site, which is on the Upper Coastal Plain. In 1995, cameras were installed on the Savannah River Site and in the Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia. The cameras recorded adults bringing 33 different types of food to nestlings. Wood roaches (Blattoidea: Blattellidae, Parcoblatta spp.) were the most common food composing 50% of the diet overall. They were also the most common prey at each location and for all but one of the woodpecker groups studied. Wood roaches were recorded in 26% of the visits photographed on the Lower Coastal Plain and 62% of the nest visits on the Upper Coastal Plain in 1994. In 1995, woo...