Red- Cockaded and Ivory- Billed Woodpeckers as Endangered Species
...0s to the mid 1900s, the Red- cockaded Woodpecker rapidly declined as its mature pine forest habitat became altered for a multiplicity of uses, but chiefly timber harvest and agriculture. Today, estimation leads one to believe that about 4,500 family units or groups of Red-cockaded Woodpeckers comprise 10,000 to 14,000 birds, living in clusters from Florida to Virginia and west to southeast Oklahoma and eastern Texas. One percent of this woodpecker's original range remains. Each group needs an average of 200 acres of old pine forest to support its foraging and nesting habitat needs. Some groups have experienced success on fewer acres while others require as many as 300 acres too support themselves ((http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Jungle/7751/rcwdpkr.html). Rat snakes pose as a primary predator of red-cockaded woodpeckers. Agile tree climbers, rat snakes eat woodpecker eggs and nestlings. Open forests with big, old pine trees, replaced by forests with younger, smaller pines, results in a sense of endangerment because of the need for red- cockaded woodpeckers to dwell in mature and full grown pine trees. Also, periodic natural fires, which historically kept the pinewoods open, have been suppressed. Periodic fire controls the brushy understory and keeps pinewoods open (http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Jungle/7751/rcwdpkr.html). Human manipulation and activities create potential threats to fire-maintained pine ecosystems of southeastern United States. These numerous threats might or alterations, since an ecosystem that will still remain after the human occurrences. Many hectares of fire- maintained pine forest result in elimination, with the lands now utilized for agriculture, grazing, urbanization, and various other purposes. The process first got its start with the Native Americans and gathered speed with the arrival of the Europeans. The process of deforestation began on the eastern seaboard, with the first colonists, and progressed westward, which produced the final large- scale elimination of forest occurring in the early decades of the 1900s in Texas. With the exception of deforestation, modification of the fire regime has resulted in nearly all of the dramatic changes in fire-maintained pine ecosystems. Fire suppression and concentration of prescribed fire in the nongrowing season greatly reduce the frequency of fire and changed its ecological effects (Conner et al, 2001). Many species, including the Red- cockaded Woodpecker, have declined precipitously due to these changes (Conner et al, 2001). A decline in the population of the Red- cockaded woodpecker has occurred, due almost entirely to the fluctuation in carrying capacity. Since the arrival of the Europeans, reductions in southern pine forests, has led to the great reduction in the carrying capacity by eliminating habitat. This certain happening affected all species making use of the southern pine forest ecosystems, but the Red- cockaded Woodpecker experienced the larger losses because modifications in most of the lingering habitat eliminated resources significant to them, rendering the habitat inappropriate for them. The Red- cockaded woodpeckers require old trees for cavity excavation, so the loss of old-growth pine in the remaining habitat resulted in the diminishing of the woodpecker’s carrying capacity (Connor et al, 2001). No one person can predict the future with absolute confidence and in a nation as we live, the United States, the future of conservation is extremely difficult to predict. But in the case of the Red- Cockaded Woodpecker, at least the potential futures and the forces that will dictate which comes to pass have crystallized in the last few years. Current research, leading to the development of a new management strategy, proves astoundingly effective where employed, signifying that we encompass the knowledge and the tools to convalesce the species. On the other hand, no clearing information provided has demonstrated the political will to accomplish recovery, so there stands a possibility that changes in the law and in policies will send the Red- cockaded Woodpecker to extinction (Conner et al, 2001). The Ivory- billed woodpecker, labeled as an “aristocrat” in appearance among woodpeckers, portrays great stature, heavy, ivory-colored, chisel-tipped bill, pale lemon- yellow eye, crisp black and white markings, and a distinctive crest. The Ivory-billed woodpecker, distributed amongst the virgin forests throughout much of the southeastern Untied States and up the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers at least as far as St. Louis, also found a home in the mature forests through much of Cuba. The Ivory-billed woodpecker enjoyed the extensive old growth forests, the solitude of wilderness, and the availability of immense beetle larvae represents its principal food. Human actions created specific types of forests in which it survived. Distinguishing characteristics of the Ivory- billed woodpecker consist of a mass of four hundred fifty to 570 g and is a length of 48 to 53 cm (Winkler and Christie, 2001). The adult male displays a bright red stripe on the sides and back of crest, a white stripe on the side of head extending from below eye down side of neck and onto side of back, and a broad white “shield” created by white of inner primaries and all secondaries when wings fold over back. The female resembles the male, but with slightly smaller size. Her crest exhibits an entirely black and somewhat longer appearance. Juveniles resemble adults of each sex, but are definitely browner and with a rounded tip to the bill. Distinctive vocalizations included a single or double, simple, “tin-horn toot.” Also generates a noisy, “double rap” by striking bill on tree (Jackson, 2002). By high merit of its standing as an inhabitant dwelling in Cuba and in coastal plain ecosystems of the southeastern United States, the Ivory- billed woodpecker became victim to catastrophic weather events to some extent unique to the region, such as hurricanes, lightening, and lightening caused fires. These three factors deem themselves important in providing an on-going sufficient supply of dead trees for nesting and roosting and as habitat for the beetle larvae the woodpeckers fed on, but on the flip side also pose as a bird killer. The superior trees utilized for cavity excavation are particularly susceptible to lightening strike, and the Ivory- billed are probably sporadically exterminated when roost or nest trees were struck. For many reasons, the Ivory- billed Woodpeckers became victims of human manipulation and greediness. Some of the reasons consist of curiosity, food, symbols of war worn and used in medicine bundles by the Native Americans, as items sold and traded, and as scientific specimens. Ivory- billeds posed as market value among the Native Americans who viewed them as a totem of successful warfare (Jackson, 2002). Detrimental impacts of Ivory- billed woodpeckers comprise included the birds, demolishing or fragmenting their habitat, and possibly disrupting their standard behavior patterns. Habitat destruction and fragmentation clearly depict the main causes of the decline of the Ivory- billed woodpecker. An existing strong case portrays the species as a victim of technology and war. Technology allowed the humans to cut forests more hastily and entirely and to move forest products far from where produced; World War I and II, along with more recent conflicts and disagreements, manifested increased demands for forest products and stifling of conservation efforts if perceived as impeding war efforts. Logging and clearance for agriculture,...