An important day in bird conservation history.

The very early 1900s was a difficult time for birds. Hawks were shot for sport by thousands. Hunters blasted duck rafts with cannons called punt guns. Birds such as wood thrushes and bobolinks as well as even smaller songbirds were routinely served as fare in restaurants around the country. Agriculture pest birds were poisoned without limitations. It was also common in that time period for ladies to adorn their hats with bird feathers. To satisfy this demand herons, egrets, spoonbills and other wading birds were shot in almost inconceivable numbers. During an early 1903 cabinet meeting in the administration of Theodore Roosevelt, the carnage taking place at a particular place in Florida became the topic of discussion. Teddy, an avid conservationist, was concerned. He asked his staff if there was currently any law on the books that prevented him from outrightly declaring this place a sanctuary. Everyone looked around the room, thought for a moment and then answered that no, to their knowledge, there was none. He then said that by Presidential decree, this place called Pellican Island would be a nature sanctuary where bird hunting would not be allowed.

I believe there are several reasons why banders have difficulty aging woodpeckers. First is the data presented on pages 163-166 of the Pyle guide. The pictures at the bottom give the impression that these are absolute conditions, when in actuality there is much variation within these situations. Second is the multi-year molt pattern of woodpeckers. The fact that their prebasic molts may be partial for several years’ results in covert patterns that are more complex than what is typically found in other birds, such as Warblers. On the other hand, this multi-year molt cycle allows us to age woodpeckers possibly as high as TY/4Y. This article will discuss general criteria for aging, which can be used in the vast majority of cases. Any species specific criteria will be covered later.

The information presented here is largely a distillation of the Pyle guide, but these molt patterns and age classes have been supported by recapture data taken at Springville Marsh and work done by Andy Zuwerink at Ohio State University. Please remember that this information is not absolute – there are certainly going to be variations.

In general, woodpecker molt appears to follow the following pattern for the pcovs. During the first prebasic molt, no pcovs are replaced (HY/SY). During the second prebasic molt, a few of the outer pcovs are replaced (SY/TY). During the third prebasic molt, all of the pcovs are replaced (ASY/ATY).

Pyle refers to two possible alternate third prebasic molts for the pcovs. Alternate #1 is that almost all of the pcovs are replaced but 1-2 random juvenile feathers are retained (TY/4Y). Alternate #2 is that some juvenile feathers and some of the adult feathers from the first prebasic molt are retained, resulting in three age classes being present in the pcovs (TY/4Y). These two alternate situations appear to be very rare.

As with aging other birds, the primary focus is the pcovs. There are generally three situations which could arrive when looking at the pcovs: 1) all pcovs are the same age, 2) there are two age classes present, and 3) there are three age classes present. These three situations will be discussed in turn.

All Pcovs show ONE age class: There are two situations which could be present here. First, all of the pcovs are juvenile feathers (probably brown, abraded, pointed, and contrasting with the black greater coverts). This age class would be designated HY/SY. The second situation would be that all of the pcovs are adult feathers (black, truncate, and not contrasting with the greater coverts). This age class would be designated as ASY/ATY. Warning: be careful during fall and winter (first prebasic molt) as the juvenile feathers may not look much different from adult feathers since they have not been present long enough to develop the wear commonly seen in the spring. Other aging criteria (i.e. eye color if applicable, overall plumage, etc) should also be used at this time so that an HY/SY is not accidentally aged as an ASY/ATY or vice versa.

Pcovs show TWO age classes: There are basically two situations which could be present here. First, the outer few pcovs are adult feathers, while the inner pcovs are juvenile (see Pyle, page 165, figure 122C). This age class would be designated SY/TY. The important thing to note about this situation is that the juvenile and adult feathers in the pcovs are in two distinct groups, the juvenile pcov feathers are more than two, and there is a symmetrical quality to the adult and juvenile pcov feathers. Also note that occasionally only the outermost pcov is replaced. Since the outer pcov is reduced in size, it is sometimes missed. The second situation (which is taken from the Pyle guide and appears to be rare) is when the pcovs are almost all adult, but there are 1-2 randomly located juvenile feathers (see Pyle, page 165, figure 122E). This age class would be designated TY/4Y. The important thing to note about this situation is that there are only 1-2 juvenile feather(s) and they are randomly located throughout the adult pcov feathers, not in a distinct group as in SY/TY. Warning: occasionally some inner pcovs are also replaced during the second prebasic molt, this may give the impression of a possible TY/4Y. The SY/TY age class appears to typically contain three (extreme case) or more juvenile pcovs, while the possible TY/4Y age class would have only 1-2 juvenile pcovs. If in doubt due to one of these extreme cases, it is probably safest to age the bird AHY.

Pcovs show THREE age classes: This pcov pattern description is taken from the Pyle guide (see Pyle, page 165, figure 122F). This situation could be difficult to see since you are dealing with two different generations of adult feathers plus some juvenile feathers. There are many possible variations on this situation. The most probable situation liable to be encountered is that the outer few pcov feathers are old adult feathers (first prebasic), the inner few pcovs are juvenile feathers, and the middle few pcov feathers are new adult feathers (second prebasic). This age class would be designated TY/4Y. Please note that any situation that shows three age classes in the pcovs, with at least one of the pcov feathers being juvenile, has the potential to be TY/4Y,butthe pattern described above will probably be the one most encountered. Note about TY/4Y age class: Page 165 of the Pyle guide says that this age class is a possible designation for the pcov patterns found, and that more study is recommended. It is recommended that if a pcov pattern is found that indicates a possible TY/4Y age designation then the age should be recorded as ASY/ATY and a note be made that it is a possible TY/4Y. A brief description of the pcov pattern should also be recorded. This, along with recapture data should present a clearer picture as to the possible accuracy and frequency of the TY/4Y age class. Andy Zuwerink has banded approximately 100 woodpeckers each year for the past several years (mostly Downy and Hairy) and has not seen any pcov pattern that may indicate a possible TY/4Y age class. We agree that the TY/4Y age class may be possible, but may be more likely to be seen in the larger woodpeckers such as Pileated and Northern Flicker. If it does occur in the smaller woodpeckers, it appears to be exceptionally rare (at least in Downy’s and Hairy’s). As of the writing of this paper, a pcov pattern indicating a possible TY/4Y has not been seen by anyone mentioned in this article (except Pyle). The TY/4Y age class was included in this article because it could potentially be seen and you should know what to look for.

As a final note, it may be a good idea to consider checking both wings. Occasionally, we have encountered a bird in which the pcov molt pattern is different on each wing. If you encounter a bird with different pcov molt patterns on each wing and each wing indicates a different age, I suggest you do the following: use the wing in which the pcovs contain the most age classes among the feathers, then if this doesn’t work, use the oldest age that one of the wings indicates. If you follow this pattern you should be able to accurately age most of the birds encountered with different aged wings. Checking both wings might be especially helpful if you encounter an extreme version of the SY/TY pcov pattern.

The author welcomes any comments, suggestions, and molt pictures, and can be reached by e-mail at micro_biology@yahoo.com.