With dark clouds looming on the horizon and his weather app radar showing a storm approaching, Chris Harrington works quickly with his colleague Jim Weber to ready their equipment for the ascent up the next tree on their list today.
It’s mid-May 2024, and they are in the midst of a critical task that can’t wait.
Harrington is an associate scientist with Breedlove, Dennis & Associates, a Winter Park-based environmental consulting firm. Part of his job is helping to monitor the population of endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers that call the nature preserve surrounding OUC’s Stanton Energy Center (SEC) home. The demographic studies are done in conjunction with regular prescribed burns, as well as timber stand and exotic species monitoring, to maintain an ideal habitat for the woodpeckers. The last burn took place in April 2024. Tom Gaboian, Senior Environmental Compliance Specialist with OUC, oversees these efforts.
Not counting the new fledglings, there are an estimated 27 red-cockaded woodpeckers at SEC, although numbers do fluctuate. The population has more than doubled since 1995. As of May 17, there were eight potential nesting sites at Stanton. Of those, six had nests with eggs so far in the nesting season. Three of those hatched the previous week, and those are the three Harrington is visiting on this trip.
A just-hatched red-cockaded woodpecker in its nest, viewed through a digital scope.
From early April to late July, Harrington patrols the preserve weekly to check known nesting sites, which he has previously marked, for recently laid eggs. This spotting is done from the ground with a digital scope at the end of a long telescoping pole that is inserted into holes that the birds have dug out of the trunk of a longleaf pine, their natural habitat. The camera is connected to a handheld screen to give him a glimpse into the nest, which can be 20 to 60 feet high in the tree.
Red-cockaded woodpeckers build their nests in cavities they’ve dug out 20 to 60 feet high in longleaf pines.
If there are eggs – as many as five are possible – Harrington knows he must go back weekly to check the status of the nest, age of nestlings, and, eventually, place identifying bands on the tiny legs of those birds who have hatched. It’s the ideal age for the task, says Harrington, because the birds still have their eyes closed, you can still fit them easily through the tunnel in the trunk and their feather quills have not yet grown in. That all makes it safer for the birds.
But before he leaves a newly located nest, Harrington wraps about six feet of the trunk in foil to prevent snakes from climbing the tree to feast on the vulnerable eggs and chicks. Snakes can climb, he explains, using their muscles and belly scales to grip the rough bark. And the reptiles are not the only “enemy.” Other species of woodpecker and other birds sometimes try to take over the nesting sites.
When he returns, Harrington will first listen at the base of the tree for the telltale chirp of the fledglings, falling back on the scope if necessary. Once the presence of the birds is confirmed, it’s time to get to work.
Harrington gently pulls the baby birds from the nest for banding, which is used to monitor the endangered woodpecker at Stanton Energy Center.
A specialized extension ladder is strapped to the side of the vertical tree trunk. Harrington dons a helmet and a climbing harness as he ascends; the anxious parents watching from nearby trees. When he gets chest level to the hole, he uses a snare made of fishing line and rubber tubing to pull the fledgling gently from the nest, which can actually be as much as a foot lower than the hole in the trunk. Because it’s completely dark in there, he does it all by feel.
When the bird is snared, he places it in a padded bag for the trip down.
During the banding process, the baby bird is measured and weighed.
Then, working quickly, Harrington and Weber weigh the bird, measure its size, and estimate its age, then place a unique United States Geological Survey band with a nine-digit number, as well as different colored bands, on its legs for future identification. The data is also submitted to state and federal wildlife agencies. Then Harrington climbs back up and puts the bird back in the nest.
The color and location of the colored bands identify the fledgling for future censuses.
Harrington will continue to check for eggs throughout the nesting season, which runs to late July. Then he will be back in December for another census, which gives him a chance to see which fledglings survived.
