Colaptes Auratus Research Articles

Survival of Overwintering Southwestern Corn Borers in Corn Stalks in Louisiana

Drastic reduction in the overwintering population of Diartraea grandiosella Dyar in old corn stalks in north Louisiana was found to occur. Results of a 2-year study whereby old corn stalks were systematically examined revealed that drastic reduction of the overwintering population was caused by predation on the larvae by the yellow shafted flicker, Colaptes auratus , from early January to mid-March. Overwintering populations of 30–40 larvae per 100 stalks were reduced by the birds to a 2–4 larvae per 100 stalks by early spring. A slight amount of natural mortality, attributed to disease, occurred. Results of examinations of overwintering larvae under large bird-proof field cages showed that low temperatures normally experienced in the test area did not adversely affect overwintering larvae in old corn stalks.

Relation of Wing and Tail Color of the Woodpeckers Colaptes auratus and C. cafer to Their Food

Relation of Wing and Tail Color of the Woodpeckers Colaptes auratus and C. cafer to Their Food

The Yellow-Shafted Flicker (Colaptes Auratus) on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts

The Yellow-Shafted Flicker (Colaptes Auratus) on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts

Possible Yellow-Shafted Flicker in Southwestern Oregon

Journal Article Possible Yellow-shafted Flicker in Southwestern Oregon Get access M. Ralph Browning, M. Ralph Browning Southern Oregon College, Ashland, Oregon Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar William English William English Southern Oregon College, Ashland, Oregon Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Condor, Volume 69, Issue 2, 1 March 1967, Page 210, https://doi.org/10.2307/1366614 Published: 01 March 1967

Host Specificity and Long Persistence of Pox Infection in the Flicker (Colaptes auratus)

The persistence of cutaneous lesions of avian pox virus infection in a yellow-shafted flicker (Colaptes auratus) over a period of 13 months is described. Extensive transmission experiments revealed strict host specificity for the. flicker virus. Flicker-to-flicker transmission was achieved, both by inoculation and by cage contact. All attempts to isolate the virus were unsuccessful. The diagnosis of pox virus infection was confirmed by electronmicroscopy.

Dermanyssus gallinoides n. sp. (Mesostigmata: Laelaptoidea: Dermanyssidae), an Acarine Parasite of Woodpeckers in Western North America

AbstractDermanyssus gallinoides is described as a new species of mite. It is parasitic on a sapsucker in British Columbia and has been collected from the nests of a red-shafted flicker and Lewis’ woodpecker in Colorado.

Variation in West Indian Flickers (Aves, Colaptes)

An analysis of the characters of three West Indian flickers (Colaptes auratus chrysocaulosus of Cuba, C. a. gundlachi of Grand Cayman and C. fernandinae of Cuba) is presented. Variation in about 30 characters is discussed, and results indicate that the two races of C. autatus comprise a distinctive subspecies group, the populations of which have undergone considerable divergence in long isolation from their conspecific relatives in continental North America. The chrysocaulosus subspecies group is derived from ancestral North American C. auratus, and exhibits certain traits thought to be primitive in this species. The race gundlachi is well-differentiated and originated from pre-chrysocaulosus stock from Cuba. Fernandina's flicker (C. fernandinae) is sympatric with C. a. chrysocaulosus on Cuba, and is highly distinctive. However, it does not differ sufficiently from other species of Colaptes to warrant status as a monotypic 'genus' as currently recognized (genus Nesoceleus Sclater and Salvin). This species is apparently derived from very early North American flicker stock for the history of flicker-like woodpeckers dates back to the early Pliocene in North America, while no evidence indicates that flickers have ever occupied West indian islands other than Cuba and Grand Cayman. Incipient geographic variation in C. a. chrysocaulosus makes it desirable to name a neotype of this form. Also a lectotype is designated from syntypical material of C. a. gundlachi.

Life Cycle and Development of Prosthorhynchus formosus (Van Cleave, 1918) Travassos, 1926, an Acanthocephalan Parasite of Birds

The life cycle of Prosthorhynchus formosus (Van Cleave, 1918) Travassos, 1926 is presented. The terrestrial isopods Armadillidium vulgare, Porcellio laevis, and P. scaber served as experimental intermediate hosts, and chickens and turkeys as experimental definitive hosts. After ingestion of the eggs by the isopod, the acanthor emerges from its shells within 15 min to 2 hr, enters the gut wall of its host, and remains there 15 to 25 days. It then migrates to the hemocoel and develops through the acanthella stage to the infective cystacanth by the 60th to 65th day of infection. Van Cleave (1918) described Plagiorhynchus formosus on the basis of four specimens collected from the flicker, Colaptes auratus, at Bowie, Maryland. In 1926, Travassos reassigned this species to the genus Prosthorhynchus but gave no reasons for the change. Van Cleave (1942) disagreed strongly with this change in generic status and reaffirmed its position in Plagiorhynchus. Golvan (1956) clarified the differences between Plagiorhynchus and Prosthorhynchus and defended its position in Prosthorhynchus. This view, which was upheld by Petrochenko (1956) and Yamaguti (1963), is accepted by the present authors. Jones (1928) extended the host list to include the chicken (Gallus domesticus), robin (Turdus migratorius), and the crow (Corvus americanus). She remarked on the possibilities of this worm becoming an important parasite of domestic fowl. Cuvillier (1934) added the catbird (Dumatella carolinensis), and a thrush Received for publication 17 April 1964. * Part of a thesis submitted by the senior author to the Graduate School of Colorado State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Ph.D. degree, February 1964. This investigation was supported by Training Grant PHS-2E-94 (C2,3) from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health, U. S. Public Health Service, and by a fellowship from the Boettcher Foundation, Denver, Colorado. (Hylocichla sp.), and Van Cleave (1942) the towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus), starling (Sturnus vulgaris), grackle (Quiscalus quiscala), and hermit thrush (Hylocichla guttata). Chandler and Rausch (1949) found it in the brown thrasher (Toxostoma rufum), and Hunter and Quay (1953) in Macgillivray's seaside sparrow (Ammospiza maritima macgillivaraii). The present report adds the red-shafted flicker (Colaptes cafer) and the domestic turkey (experimental). Sinitsin (1929) reported finding a juvenile of Plagiorhynchus formosus in the sowbug, Armadillidium vulgare, near Washington, D. C. To date, this is the only report on the life history of P. formosus, although Dollfus and Dalens (1960) reported larvae of Prosthorhynchus cylindraceus in A. vulgare in France. This work presents the complete life cycle of Prosthorhynchus formosus as observed under laboratory conditions, utilizing three species of terrestrial isopods as intermediate hosts and domestic fowl as definitive hosts. MATERIALS AND METHODS

Addendum: The Effects of Exogenous Gonadotrophins and Egg Removal on Clutch Size in the Domesticated Canary, Serinus canarius

IT is well known that not all species of birds react to egg removal in the same manner. term 'indeterminate layer' is commonly used to indicate species in which the number of eggs laid will vary according to the conditions in the nest, while the term 'determinate layer' indicates those species in which the number of eggs laid appears to be a more rigid and constant product of internal processes in the bird (Lehrman, 1959). An extreme example of indeterminate laying is the Flicker (Colaptes auratus) observed by Phillips (1887), which laid 72 eggs in 73 days in response to egg removal from the nest. (See Lehrman, 1959, for a review with other examples.) Brant (Branta bernicla hrota) and Snow Geese (Chen caerulescens) are determinate in normally laying four-five eggs. This clutch size decreases if environmental factors cause egg laying to begin later than the optimal time. It is known (Barry, 1960) that only a certain number of ovarian follicles develop in these geese and that follicles will atrophy under unfavorable breeding conditions. In the African parrot genus Agapornis only three-eight eggs are laid, although the ovary shows a graded series of follicles (Dilger, 1960), a condition that would seem to give the genus a potential for indeterminate clutches. It is clear that very different factors are affecting determinism in these several species. The increasing use of the Canary (Serinus canarius) in physiological and behavioral research (e.g., Hinde, 1958; Hinde and Warren, 1959; Vaugien, 1948; Warren and Hinde, 1959, 1961) made it seem pertinent to obtain some information on clutch size and the effect of egg removal on clutch size in this species. If clutch size is wholly or in part determined at the pituitary level by regulation of gonadotrophin production, one would expect gonadotrophin injections to affect clutch size in some way. Therefore supplementary information on the effects of exogenous gonadotrophin on clutch size also seemed relevant.

Unusual Nesting Sites of Brown Thrasher and Yellow-Shafted Flicker

Unusual Nesting Sites of Brown Thrasher and Yellow-Shafted Flicker

Observation of Avian Pox in a Yellow-Shafted Flicker

Observation of Avian Pox in a Yellow-Shafted Flicker

Application of Avian Repellents to Eastern White Pine Seed

Application of Avian Repellents to Eastern White Pine Seed

Red-shafted Flicker and American Coot at Churchill Manitoba

Red-shafted Flicker and American Coot at Churchill Manitoba

Nationality Names for American Birds

THE USE OF THE NAME Of a nation as the adjectival part of a bird appellation sometimes indicates the country of origin, but much more frequently it has a different meaning. In such combinations as English sparrow, European starling, Chinese pheasant, and Hungarian partridge, at least part of the homeland of an introduced bird is designated. And where acclimatization activities were conspicuous, a bird might acquire a name that would not be thought of elsewhere, as for example, German finch for the evening grosbeak at Portland, Oregon, since this unfamiliar species, when noticed at all, was deemed one of the importations of the bird cranks. Nationality modifiers prevail also among facetious names for birds, but that is another story. More common uses are to convey approbation or to label a species obviously distinct from familiar representatives of its group. Dictionaries incline to the view that the prefix English indicates something met with in America with which the people had previously been acquainted in England. Among American bird names there is some support for, but more evidence against, this hypothesis. English duck (N.C., S.C., Ga., Fla., Ala.) specifies the mallard, a well-known bird of the Old World, as also of the New, but the term is extended to the black duck and the mottled duck, which are strictly American species. Some of the names involved are, for the black duck, black English duck (S.C., Ga., Fla.), English black duck (La.), English duck (N.C., Ga.), and English mallard (Fla.); and for the mottled duck, English duck (Fla.). The generally employed appellation English snipe, for Wilson's snipe, the American subspecies of the common snipe of Europe, gives partial corroboration of the dictionary opinion, but English snipe (Nova Scotia) for the American woodcock tends in the opposite direction. English lark (Del.) is a natural reference to a bird legitimately known as the English starling. English woodpecker (N.Y., Newfoundland) has been applied to the yellow-shafted flicker because of a fanciful resemblance of the bird to the European green woodpecker; the principle we are discussing, in this instance, leading people astray. In every other 'English' name on hand, the purpose of the prefix is recognition of the distinctness of the bird from relatives, real or assumed. For compactness they are here tabulated:

Californian Flicker-Quill Headbands in the Light of an Ancient Colorado Cave Specimen

ROM MANTLES CAVE, in Dinosaur National Monument, in the northwestern corner of Colorado, Burgh and Scoggin (1948) report a buckskin pouch which contained a remarkably well preserved flicker-quill headband turned up with miniver. The similarity of this ancient ceremonial headdress, apart from its fur trimming, to the ethnographic flicker-quill headbands of California, raises a challenging culture-historical problem. The evidence suggests that the similarity may rest on cultural connections and that the flickerquill headband may be an important key for the understanding of Californian-Great Basin relationships during the first millennium of this era. Burgh and Scoggin (1948, pp. 38-41) have described the archaeological circumstances of the Colorado find in detail. Mantles cave is one of several non-residential caves in Yampa Canyon, containing small chambers dug into the silt or sand of their floors. The culture represented in the caves and open sites has been identified in part with the Fremont culture of east-central Utah, a basically Basketmaker manifestation extending along the Green River and its tributaries, and dating from about 400 to 800 A.D. (Morss, 1931; Lister, 1951). The Mantles cave headband and other Yampa Canyon specimens are now in the Henderson Museum, University of Colorado, Boulder. The Colorado headband merits a detailed description. Fundamentally, the technique of manufacture is the same as that employed in the making of the California specimens: the central tail feathers of the Red-shafted Flicker, Colaptes cafer collaris, have been trimmed of thei vanes so as to leave the red-orange shaft or quill bare for about 8 cm. of the total feather length of about 12.5 cm. The remaining untrimmed 4.5 cm. of the feather at the distal end forms a roughly diamond-shaped tuft. The trimmed feathers, placed side by side, form a continuous elongated mat of quills. The Mantles cave band is 58.5 cm. long, and contains 370 or more feathers, which would have required some 60 birds. The quills are arranged so that their ventral or undersurface portions face the front of the headdress-i.e., the surface not in contact with the wearer's head. The quills are held together by two horizontal threads of sinew, which pass through perforations which pierce each quill at two points below the diamond-shaped tuft. The uppermost of these threads stops 14 cm. from the right end, and 12 cm. from the left end of the band, in terms of the wearer's right and left. The lower thread runs the whole length of the band. The quills are also anchored by the basal binding strips. Along the front edge of the band this consists of a trimming of ermine, made from the pelts of three weasels (Mustela frenata, probably nevadensis) in winter pelage, averaging 2.25 to 2.50 cm. in width. Along the back edge is a buckskin backing strip, of the same width as the ermine band, which would be in contact with the wearer's forehead. These strips hold the bases of the row of quills between them, and they are firmly united by stout sinew lashings a about 1 cm. intervals, both along the lower edge of the headdress and along the upper laptes cafer collaris, have b en trimmed of ir vanes so as to leave the r d-orange shaft 147 HEWES]

VARIATION AND HYBRIDIZATION AMONG THE PARADISE FLYCATCHERS OF AFRICA

One of the differences between plants and animals, it is often stated, is the frequency of interspecific hybridism among plants, or its extreme rarity among animals. Such hybridism among animals has either been found in the zones where two allopatric forms meet, or else it has produced only occasional crosses betwean sympatric species. Familiar examples of the first class are furnished by the American flickers (Colaptes auratus anld cafer) and the crows of Europe (Corvus coronie and cornix). The second class is illustrated by the hybrids among ducks and birds of paradise, to mention only two groups. Hybrid swarms resulting from the breakdown of isolating mechanisms between sympatric species are rare among animals, though known in the genera Bufo and Colias. Among plants, where such occurrences appear to be much more frequent, the hybrids may plainly affect the appearance of one or both parental species by backcrossing. Such penetration of genes from one species into another, without either losing its identity, has been called by Edgar Andersoni. A summary of known cases among plants has been prepared by Heiser (in press). The present paper is devoted to a discussion of several cases of introgressive hybridization between sympatric species of a genus of birds.

Hypodectes chapini n. sp. (Acarina) from the Red-Shafted Flicker

A red-shafted flicker (Colaptes cafer collaris) captured February 16, 1940, at Davis, California, and held in captivity until April 4, showed, on autopsy, 202 specimens of an immature acarian loosely encysted in the connective tissue surrounding the trachea, and, to a lesser extent, the esophagus. The greatest concentration was near the point of entrance of the trachea into the buccal cavity, but the area of infection extended from the lungs to the tongue. Another flicker, brought directly from the field on April 5, showed essentially the same picture, although the infection was not so heavy. No movement was visible within the cysts as far as could be determined, and there was no apparent pathology in the host tissue at the site of the infection. When the parasites were placed in water the only definite movements were the slow waving of the legs, although the abdominal constriction appeared to become more pronounced in some individuals after a few minutes. No locomotion was observed in water on a tissue or glass surface. These mites have been identified as a new species of the genus Hypodectes Filippi (1861). Giebel (1861) published descriptions of certain mites that had been collected by Nitzsch from the internal tissues of birds, erecting for them the genus Hypoderas. Later (1871) Giebel pointed out that Filippi's genus Hypodectes and the genus Hypoderas were synonymous but maintained that the generic name Hypoderas should be retained because it was an older genus (Hypoderas had been an unpublished manuscript name of Nitzsch) and because Filippi had named only 1 species in his genus (actually 5 species were named) while Hypoderas was supported by 12 species. Giebel also objected to Filippi's procedure of naming Hypodectes nycticoracis after the host, since Ardea nycticorax shelters two species of the genus. A comparison of the dates of publication of the original descriptions of these two genera shows that Filippi published in June, 1861, while Giebel's paper appeared in October-November of the same year. The present authors therefore consider that the correct generic name should be Hypodectes and that Giebel's reasons for retaining the name Hypoderas were inadequate.

On the Analysis of Productivity in Populations of Higher Vertebrates

this work, but investigators, by assuming (or by leaving reader to infer) that loss of a clutch of eggs or a litter of young necessarily means that much net loss in productivity, may introduce errors of such magnitude that critics could, in many instances, appropriately ask whether conclusions were not as misleading as instructive. It may be conceded that various species for reasons of latitude, climate, rarity, inherent shortness and lack of synchrony of sex rhythm (Allen, 1934) physiology, psychology, etc., may have distinctly limited opportunities to reproduce. Late young--even of species that readily renest throughout a long breeding season-may be, moreover, few in number, subject to pronounced if not lethal handicaps, or undesirable special human viewpoints. Nevertheless, calculations of so-called life equations that ignore, for example, renesting when its compensatory value is substantial can lead pretty wide of truth; and common sense reasoning of administrators and sportsmen to effect that every game bird e g that fails to hatch is equivalent of one les hunting season pheasant (or quail or duck or something else) should hardly be surprising as long as comparable assumptions continue to be made by those whose studies are accepted as technical background. We have only to consider standard pract ces in poultry management to see how immense numbers of eggs would never be laid in first place were it not for timulus resulting removal of ggs laying hens. Among wildliving birds, flicker (Colaptes auratus) has long been known for its propensity for continuing to lay after egg losses (Bent, 1939: 272). Recognition of some of fallacies of misplaced concreteness (Whitehead, 1925; Henderson, 1941) that are so prevalent in life history analyses should be possible without unduly minimizing loss types of real importance. My own endeavors to evaluate renestings and related phenomena were inspired by Stoddard's (1931) classic investigation of bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) in Georgia and Florida, which clearly distinguishes between percentage and significance of nesting losses. On pages 224 and 225 of his book, we may not only read that from 60 to 80 per cent of unsuccessful nesting attempts may normally be expected at large over Southeastern quail territory but also that, in course of a season, the majority of pairs sooner or later are successful in hatching I Journal Paper No. J-674 of Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station, Ames, Iowa, Project No. 498. Fish and Wildlife Service (U. S. Department of Interior), Iowa State College, Iowa State Conservatioa Commission, and American Wildlife Institute cooperating.

The Wintering of a Northern Flicker in Central Iowa

The Wintering of a Northern Flicker in Central Iowa

Natural Hybridization and Genetics of Flickers (Colaptes)

Previous articleNext article No AccessShorter Articles and DiscussionNatural Hybridization and Genetics of Flickers (Colaptes)Alan DeakinAlan Deakin Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The American Naturalist Volume 70, Number 731Nov. - Dec., 1936 Published for The American Society of Naturalists Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/280699 Views: 2Total views on this site Citations: 3Citations are reported from Crossref PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Jocelyn Hudon, Karen L. Wiebe, Riccardo Stradi Disruptions of feather carotenoid pigmentation in a subset of hybrid northern flickers (Colaptes auratus) may be linked to genetic incompatibilities, Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part B: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 251 (Jan 2021): 110510.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpb.2020.110510Ellen Pearlstein, Lionel Keene Evaluating Color and Fading of Red-Shafted Flicker ( Colaptes auratus cafer ) Feathers: Technical and Cultural Considerations, Studies in Conservation 55, no.22 (Jul 2013): 81–94.https://doi.org/10.1179/sic.2010.55.2.81K L Wiebe, G R Bortolotti Variation in colour within a population of northern flickers: a new perspective on an old hybrid zone, Canadian Journal of Zoology 79, no.66 (Jun 2001): 1046–1052.https://doi.org/10.1139/z01-065