Why is the red cockaded woodpecker endangered?
They are dependent upon mature forests with standing dead trees, even more so than most other woodpeckers. Since mature forests have been cut for timber, converted to farmland, and managed as tree farms in much of the southeastern US, the birds can not find enough nest sites or food sources. The current threats include population fragmentation – the fact that the few remaining groups are isolated from other groups – and other factors. Oddly, two natural factors are listed as threats to the fragmented populations of red-cockaded woodpeckers. One is that the larger and more numerous pileated woodpeckers take over their nest holes, making the holes too large for the red-cockaded woodpeckers to use. The other is the southern pine beetle, which feeds on the same dead trees as other insects which the woodpecker eats, but the pine beetle infestations are so numerous that they damage the woodpeckers’ nest holes. See http://www.iucnredlist.org/search/details.php/17258/all. Under “detailed docum
