Birds of Mount Shasta Woodpeckers

Entry 40. Xenopicus albolarvatus. White-headed Woodpecker. [Picoides albolarvatus]

A common breeder in the upper part of the pine belt, and also among the Shasta and white firs near Wagon Camp, where several specimens were collected, and where a nest containing noisy young was found the latter part of July. The nest was in a stub in a burn, with the entrance about 6 feet from the ground. At Sisson the white-headed woodpecker was seen, the middle of July, by Miss Merriam, and early in September by R.T. Fisher. In the pine woods bordering the south end of Shasta Valley I saw half a Dozen September 29.

Entry 41. Picoides arcticus. Arctic Three-toed Woodpecker. [Black-backed Woodpecker]

Rare, but evidently breeding in the Shasta fir forest of the Canadian zone, where a male was shot near Wagon Camp by John H. Sage July 20. Another was shot by Vernon Bailey July 30 in the gap between Red Cone and the lower end of Gray Butte, where a third individual was seen.

Entry 47. Colaptes cafer. Red-shafted Flicker.

Fairly common on the mountain; seen or heard nearly every day, during the latter half of July and early August, near Wagon Camp, July 28 several were seen on the lower slope between Wagon Camp and McCloud Mill; late in July and early in August several were seen high up on Squaw and Mud creeks; August 16 one was killed by R.T. Fisher at Squaw Creek Camp; and during migration, the latter half of September, a few were seen nearly every day a little below timberline near Squaw and Panther Creeks. At the time of our visits to the juniper forest in Shasta Valley, September 19 and 29, flickers were common and were probably feeding on the juniper berries. At Sisson, Florence A. Merriam found them common, the middle of July, and R.T. Fisher, the first half of September.

Drumming and whinny of a male Red-Shafted Flicker © 1999 Doug Von Gausig.