Part 18

Number of eggs.--Clutch-size is about 6 eggs.

Nests are piles of wood chips in cavities excavated in stumps and dead limbs of trees such as willow, cottonwood, mulberry, and catalpa, ordinarily about six feet above the ground.

=Red-shafted Flicker=: Colaptes cafer collaris Vigors.--This woodpecker is a common summer resident in western Kansas, meeting, hybridizing with, and largely replaced by C. auratus in central and eastern sectors. The vast majority of specimens taken in Kansas show evidence of intergradation with C. auratus.

Breeding schedule.--The few records of flickers identified in the field as C. cafer have been combined with those of C. auratus (Fig. 5).

Number of eggs.--Clutch-size is perhaps 6 eggs.

Nests are like those of C. auratus.

=Pileated Woodpecker=: Dryocopus pileatus (Linnaeus).--This is a rare and local resident in the east, in heavy timber. The species has been seen, chiefly in winter, in all sectors of eastern Kansas in recent years, but actual records of breeding come only from Linn and Cherokee counties. D. p. abieticola (Bangs) occurs in the northeast, and D. p. pileatus (Linnaeus) in the southeast.

Breeding schedule.--Eggs are laid at least in April.

Number of eggs.--Clutch-size is 3 or 4 eggs.

Nests are of wood chips in cavities excavated 45 to 60 feet high in main trunks of cottonwood, sycamore, and pin oak.

=Red-bellied Woodpecker=: Centurus carolinus zebra (Boddaert).--In woodland habitats this is a common resident in eastern Kansas, local in the west.

Breeding schedule.--Thirty-seven records of breeding span the period March 1 to June 30 (Fig. 5); the modal date of egg-laying is around April 25.

Number of eggs.--Clutch-size is about 5 eggs.

Nests are of wood chips in cavities excavated in elm, cottonwood, box elder, ash, hickory, or willow, about 25 feet high (nine to 60 feet).

=Red-headed Woodpecker=: Melanerpes erythrocephalus (Linnaeus).--This is a common summer resident and uncommon permanent resident in open woodland; in winter it is noted especially around groves of oaks. M. e. erythrocephalus (Linnaeus) occurs in eastern Kansas and M. e. caurinus Brodkorb occurs in central and western Kansas.

Breeding schedule.--Fifty-eight records of breeding span the period May 1 to August 10 (Fig. 5); the modal date of egg-laying is June 5.

Number of eggs.--Clutch-size is 3 or 4 eggs.

Nests are of wood chips in cavities excavated about 25 feet high in willow, cottonwood, and elm.

=Hairy Woodpecker=: Dendrocopos villosus villosus (Linnaeus).--This resident is common in woodlands throughout the State.

Breeding schedule.--Twenty-eight records of breeding span the period March 21 to May 30 (Fig. 5); the modal date of egg-laying is May 5.

Number of eggs.--Clutch-size is about 4 eggs.

Nests are of wood chips in cavities excavated about 13 feet high in elm, honey locust, and ash.

=Downy Woodpecker=: Dendrocopos pubescens (Linnaeus).--This resident is common in woodland throughout the State. D. p. pubescens (Linnaeus) occurs in southeastern Kansas, and D. p. medianus (Swainson) in the remainder.

Breeding schedule.--Forty-one records of breeding span the period April 11 to June 10 (Fig. 5); the modal date of egg-laying is May 5.

Number of eggs.--Clutch-size is about 4 eggs.

Nests are of wood chips in cavities excavated about 20 feet high in willow, honey locust, ash, apple, and pear.

=Eastern Kingbird=: Tyrannus tyrannus (Linnaeus).--This summer resident is common throughout the east; it is local in the west but there maintains conspicuous numbers in favorable places, such as riparian woodland; preferred habitat in eastern sectors is typically in woodland edge. Temporal occurrence is indicated in Table 13.

Breeding season.--Sixty-three dates of egg-laying span the period May 11 to July 20 (Fig. 5); the modal date for completion of clutches is June 15. Nearly 70 per cent of all eggs are laid in June.