Mature pine savanna

Figure 5. Red cockaded woodpeckers nest in the marked trees. (Photograph by the author. More about the photograph)

Figure 5 shows a pine savanna that is more mature than those shown earlier. The area illustrated is being managed as habitat for one the signature species of the longleaf pine savanna, the red cockaded woodpecker. These small birds nest in old-growth longleaf, and several have nested in the white-banded trees shown here. The woodpeckers make nesting cavities in the heartwood of the tree, and the outside bark becomes covered with pitch. The height of the nests and the sticky pine pitch are both thought to deter predators.

A specialist in birds from the Camp Lejeune Environmental Management Division helped develop a technique for increasing woodpecker nests by cutting rectangular cavities in medium sized pines, installing bird boxes, and smearing the outside with pitch and white paint. These man-made nesting cavities attract woodpeckers and are now being used widely to maintain colonies of birds where old growth nesting trees are rare or have been damaged by storms. Hurricane Hugo snapped off almost every nesting tree in Francis Marion National Forest, but installation of nesting boxes is credited with saving the colony of red cockaded woodpeckers.

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