The Redheaded Woodpecker and The Economy

Farming continues in the South today, although not to the extent that it was practiced during Reconstruction, and the crops are different.  Today instead of cotton and tobacco, Southern farms grow crops like soybeans and corn.  Also common are family-owned chicken farms or egg farms, that also focus on a single product.  Sharecropping and tenant farming are no longer common methods of agriculture. Red headed Woodpeckers like to feed on these various things, but not as much as nuts, berries, and insects. Agriculture in the Southern United States has not affected the way the Woodpecker feeds.

 Today, much of the agriculture in the South has been replaced by other types of jobs, including manufacturing and service jobs.  Examples of this type of industry include, car manufacturing, telecommunications, textile manufacturing, technology, banking, and aviation.  Bank of America has their banking headquarters in North Carolina.  Nissan, Volkswagen, and BMW all have major manufacturing plants in states like Alabama.

 Agricultural changes even include building in rural and urban areas. This causes the destruction of homes for the Woodpecker.  They often live in trees and telephone poles. While theses trees are being destroyed and being replaced by buildings, the Woodpecker has to find someplace else to go. Woodpeckers cause property damage by drilling holes in wood and synthetic stucco siding and eaves, and are an annoyance when hammering or "drumming" on houses. Woodpeckers hammer to attract mates, to establish and/or defend a territory, to excavate nesting or roosting sites, and to search for insects. Wooden shingles, cedar or redwood siding, metal or plastic gutters, television antennas, chimney caps, and light posts are selected as drumming sites because these materials produce loud sounds.