Dr. Eric Walters visits Camp Sherman birding festival

The Woodpecker Wonderland Festival presented its second annual guided bird watch, leading birders out in the field to view 11 species of local woodpeckers.

Saturday's birding was followed by a sumptuous dinner provided by The Lodge at Suttle Lake. Guests were entertained by music sponsored by the Metolius Recreation Association and performed by a trio of Dennis McGregor, Patrick Lombardi and Peter Heitoff. McGregor is also the artist of the woodpecker poster for both this year's and last year's event.

The evening's keynote speaker, Dr. Eric Walters, a postdoctoral fellow of the University of California, wowed the crowd with a presentation of the clown-faced, aka acorn woodpecker (ACWO) and red-cockaded woodpecker (RCW).

Study of these birds is the longest-running woodpecker project in the world. Their project just partnered with Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Neither bird is local to the area, but since 1992 Walters has also studied the red-naped sapsucker, which is local.

Hummingbirds time their migration to the sapsuckers to take advantage of their sap wells for nutrition.

While bears are a common predator of sapsuckers and always seem to know where the nests can be found, beavers are actually the most feared animals, felling trees and destroying nests that can take years to build.

A researcher's life isn't always an easy one. Reaching into a tree to band a bird and finding a snake instead can be disconcerting, as can flying squirrels, which not only bite, but can turn around, aim their behinds outside the tree cavity, and urinate on the researcher.

Walters showed pictures of 40-foot ladders anchored by cables because the trees were too slender to support their weight. Height can be a factor for some, especially new interns, and some climbing has to be done with a rope and belt. Walters talked about having rescued more than one intern who froze once they reached the top of a high tree. On one occasion the intern was wearing the only belt, so he had to climb the tree, sans belt, to rescue the student.

The red-cockaded woodpecker, also part of the study, is on the endangered species list, Walters noted. A key cause is that cockadeds like to breed in live pine trees. It can take one to five years to make a cavity, so they need longer-lived trees.

Man, providing fire in the form of controlled burns, clears old dying trees and creates areas for new growth. This is key to the cockaded's survival as well as that of hundreds of other species that inhabit the area.

The cockadeds are especially attracted to trees with a fungus, which helps soften the wood. The sap runs down the tree, creating a resin barrier that prevents snakes from reaching the nest.

Researchers found that by adding just two cavities to each group helped cockadeds, who have experienced a dwindling population.

Walter's other area of study is the clown-faced acorn woodpecker. The world's most famous woodpecker, Woody Woodpecker, created by Walter Lantz, was actually inspired by the clown-faced woodpecker. While the tuft mimics that of the pileated, the face is all acorn.