Woodpecker Nest Survival in Burned and Unburned Managed Ponderosa Pine Forests of the Northwestern United States

Woodpeckers are particularly susceptible to habitat changes resulting from forest management because of their reliance on trees and snags for nesting and foraging. However, the influence of habitat variables on the reproductive success of woodpeckers has received less attention than it has in other avian taxonomic groups. We estimated nest-survival rates for the White-headed Woodpecker (Picoides albolarvatus), Hairy Woodpecker (P. villosus), and Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) in managed ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests along the eastern slope of the Cascade Range in Washington, 2005–2010. Using a model-selection framework, we found that the most supported models included terms for a quadratic effect of date and habitat type for the Hairy Woodpecker, a negative effect of percent shrub cover for the White-headed Woodpecker, and a negative linear effect of date and habitat type, a negative linear effect of snag density, and a positive linear effect of tree density for the flicker. Survival rates over the entire cycle (laying + incubation + nestling stages) were 0.51 in unburned stands and 0.41 in burned stands for the Hairy Woodpecker, 0.70 for the White-headed Woodpecker, and 0.41 in unburned stands and 0.80 in burned stands for the flicker. In both habitats of our study survival rates of Hairy Woodpecker nests are lower than those reported in other studies, while those of White-headed Woodpecker nests are comparable to those reported in other areas of that species' range.