Puerto Rican Woodpeckers: Caribbean American, Puerto Rico Five-One Icons

Summary: Puerto Rican woodpeckers are Caribbean American heritage month June 2019 and Puerto Rico Five-One Statehood icons.

Puerto Rican woodpecker (Melanerpes portoricensis), near Coamo, south central Puerto Rico; Friday, Jan. 18, 2008: Ryan Douglas, CC BY 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

That Puerto Rican woodpeckers account for the only woodpecker species in their only homeland, the Commonwealth, argues for their association with Caribbean American heritage month June 2019 and Puerto Rico Five-One icons.

Darren P. Soto, United States Democratic Representative from Florida's 9th district, brought H.R. 1965, the Puerto Rico Admission Act, March 28, 2019, before the 116th Congress. The Puerto Rico Five-One statehood bill, if considered favorably by the United States House of Representatives and Senate, conveys condition-free admission 90 days after presidential approval. Caribbean American heritage month June 2019 denotes Caribbean American deeds before, during and after Caribbean America's discovery Oct. 12, 1492, by Christopher Columbus (1451-May 20, 1506).

About 4,169.9 square miles (10,800 square kilometers) entertain Puerto Rican woodpeckers, Caribbean American heritage month June 2019 and Puerto Rico Five-One icons as Puerto Rico exclusives.

Five-year Puerto Rican woodpecker life cycles feature arriving at nest-friendly trees in January, breeding March through April, nesting April through June and parenting May through August.

Mature female Puerto Rican woodpeckers each gestate one one- to six-egg seasonal brood for 3.28- to 19.69-foot- (1- to 6-meter-) high cavities drilled by their mates. White 0.16-ounce (4.4-gram), 0.82- to 0.97-inch- (20.9- to 24.6-millimeter-) long, 0.64- to 0.75-inch- (16.2- to 19.1-millimeter-) wide, 0.0047-inch- (0.12-millimeter-) thick eggs herald 11- to 14-day incubations. Altricial (helpless, from Latin altrīx, "nourisher"), naked hatchlings within hard-surfaced cavities initiate movement and rest on hard, rough pads on the backs of their leg joints.

Puerto Rican woodpeckers journey as Puerto Rico Five-One icons into Caribbean American heritage month June 2019 as parents, one month each, of nestlings and of fledglings.

Female and male juvenile Puerto Rican woodpeckers know soft-textured plumage and respective black-gray, red-tinged underparts; and black-gray flanks and sides, red underparts and red-dipped crown feathers.

Mature females log white-edged eyes, rumps and wings; red-tinged brown-gray chins and throats; red underparts; and, like males, barbed, long, sticky tongues and wavy flight patterns. Mature males manifest black-blue bodies; white eye-patches, foreheads, rumps and underwing and uppertail coverts; red chests and throats; and brown-gray flanks, sides, underparts and undertail coverts. Mature 1.59- to 2.54-ounce (45- to 72-gram), 9.06- to 10.63-inch (23- to 27-centimeter) Puerto Rican woodpeckers net red-brown irises; black bills; and brown-gray feet and legs.

François Daudin's (Aug. 29, 1776-Nov. 30, 1803) Melanerpes portoricensis (from Greek μέλᾱς, "black" and έρπω, "creeper) occurs with flycatchers (Myiarchus antillarum) and yellow-shouldered blackbirds (Agelaius xanthomus).

Puerto Rican woodpeckers prey upon ants, beetles, dragonflies, earwigs, frogs, grasshoppers, lizards, spiders, worms and figs (Ficus) and matchwood (Schefflera morototonii) and snakewood (Cecropia peltala) fruits.

Chur-chur-chur-chur-chur-chur-chur-chur-chur-chur-chur-chur-chur-chur-chur-chur-chur-chur-chur-chur, kuk, mew, pep-pep-pep, preep and wek-wek-wek-wek-wek calls; rat-a-tat-tat sounds; soft drumming; and wing-rattling qualify as communication among sociable non-breeding flocks and territorial breeding, nesting parents. Caribbean American heritage month, Picidae (from Latin pīcus, "woodpecker" and Greek ειδής, "-like") family and Puerto Rico Five-One icons reach 3,280.84-foot (1,000-meter) altitudes above sea level. They survive in almond, coconut, coffee, Honduran pine (Pinus caribaea) and shaded coffee plantations; dry and wet forests; mangroves; palm groves; and wooded gardens and parks.

Carpinteros puertorriqueños en la isla del encanto ("Puerto Rican woodpeckers on the enchanted isle") turn out for early morning sunbaths on exposed, higher branches and snags.

pic de portorico (Puerto Rican woodpecker) by French botanical and zoological illustrator Jacques Barraband (Aug. 31, 1767-Oct. 1, 1809) for French zoologist François Marie Daudin's 1803 description; F.M. Daudin, Annales du Muséum, tome II (1803), Plate LI, opposite page 285: Not in copyright, via Biodiversity Heritage Library

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Puerto Rican woodpecker (Melanerpes portoricensis), near Coamo, south central Puerto Rico; Friday, Jan. 18, 2008, 16:31: Ryan Douglas, CC BY 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Puerto_Rican_Woodpecker_(Melanerpes_portoricensis).jpg

pic de portorico (Puerto Rican woodpecker) by French botanical and zoological illustrator Jacques Barraband (Aug. 31, 1767-Oct. 1, 1809) for French zoologist François Marie Daudin's 1803 description; F.M. Daudin, Annales du Muséum, tome II (1803), Plate LI, opposite page 285: Not in copyright, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/3496614

For further information:

Baicich, Paul J.; and Colin J.O. Harrison. 2005. Nests, Eggs, and Nestlings of North American Birds. Princeton NJ; and Oxford, England, UK: Princeton University Press, Princeton Field Guides. Second edition.

BirdLife International 2016. "Melanerpes portoricensis." The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T22680807A92879627. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22680807A92879627.en.
Available @ https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22680807/92879627

Daudin, F. M. (François Marie). "Description d'une nouvelle espèce de Pic trouvée á Porto-Rico."Annales du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, tome second: 285-287. Paris, France: Les Frères Levrault, An XI (1803).
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/3496615

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/05/puerto-rican-rain-gardens-american.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 12 May 2019. "Stripe-Headed Tanagers: Fitness Month 2019, Puerto Rico Five-One Icons." Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/05/stripe-headed-tanagers-fitness-month.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/04/puerto-rican-screech-owls-earth-month.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/04/earth-month-puerto-rican-green-mango.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 31 March 2019. "Puerto Rican Emerald Hummingbirds and Puerto Rican Statehood." Earth and Space News. Sunday.
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Mowbray, Alan. "Puerto Rican Woodpecker." United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service > Find a Forest or Grassland > Select a State > Puerto Rico > Select a Forest or Grassland > El Yunque National Forest > Learning Center > Nature & Science > Comprehensive Wildlife Lists > Comprehensive Wildlife Facts List by Type/Year in Alphabetical Order > Birds.
Available @ https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/elyunque/learning/nature-science/?cid=fsbdev3_042933

Raffaele, Herbert A. 1989. A Guide to the Birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands: Revised Edition. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.

Toms, Judith D. 2010. "Puerto Rican Woodpecker (Melanerpes portoricensis)." Version 1.0. In: Neotropical Birds Online (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Ithaca NY: Cornell Lab of Ornithology. https://doi.org/10.2173/nb.purwoo1.01.
Available @ https://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/Species-Account/nb/species/purwoo1/overview

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