The Red-cockaded Woodpecker is listed as a federally Endangered Species in danger of extinction. I was fortunate to find and photograph this bird in the Carolina Sandhills NWR in South Carolina. These birds require old-growth pine trees (preferably long-leaf pine) that are at least 60 years old as a suitable habitat to survive. Intense logging of southern pine forests has destroyed the majority of their native habitat.
On the loss of the Long-leaf Pine forests where this bird bred for thousands of years, as well as our obligation to preserve and restore it, Janisse Ray is especially eloquent in her memoir ECOLOGY OF A CRACKER CHILDHOOD.
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures of a beautiful bird!
Terry Mosher
Fredonia