A friend of my wife found 2 dead woodpeckers together under a tree. She was curious about what might have happened. My guess is they were 2 males fighting.

Well, I certainly hope that they were reported to the proper authorities and an arrest warrant for one or both of these dead peckers was issued. We all know that just because we all get eight thousand calls every year, that woodpeckers are an extremely endangered species.

Of course, if the house they attacked belongs to a member of HSUS or PETA, then they should all be destroyed! Think I'm kidding? Guess again.

Thank you Paul W. This thread was bare until you came through.

I don't know; it still looks pretty bare.

There's no law against killing woodpeckers if there causing damage . There are two types protected because there endangered . All others can be controlled no permit needed . This is a mis print . The person that wrote this has know idea what the real law is . Fig. 2. Yellow-bellied sapsucker, Sphyrapicus varius
where the Lewis’ woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis), whose flocks may number several hundred, is most often implicated.
Legal Status
Woodpeckers are classified as migra- tory, nongame birds and are protected by the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The red-cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis) and the ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) are on the Endangered Species list and are thus offered full protection. When warranted, woodpeckers other than the endangered species can be killed but only under a permit issued by the Law Enforcement Division of the US Fish and Wildlife Service upon recom- mendation of USDA-APHIS-Animal Damage Control personnel. Generally, there must be a good case to justify is- suance of a permit.

Interesting. Maybe it was two males fighting.

You are right and there is more birds that alot dose not know that they are protected by the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act . There is alot of paper work that need to be done on any of them . Just like the the crow thay are under the same law and orthers. Just to let anyone know .

That just a bunch of stories that we have been told . I talked to the head woodpecker guy at US fish and wildlife service . Really nice guy eger to help ,also thankful for checking with him first ,He is the lead guy on protecting and trying to bring back the red-cockaded woodpecker . Funny thing is there's no red on that woodpecker and only lives in the deep south . When my customer tryed to get the permit for removing a red-cockaded woodpecker he got the attention of the head guy . He explained it to us both on a three way phone . We had the common red headed woodpecker and is not protected by the migratory bird act if that bird is causing damage to your property . He said but I should check my state law because the state mite have it protected . Which they don't . The state does have one woodpecker protected but that's a mostly upper Michigan woodpecker . the guys name is Will Mcdearman 601-321-1124 Call this guy up because I know your all thinking I'm crazy . This guy works for you . Will claimed my customer could not even get a permit because one is not needed . He also claim that working with the government can be confusing at times . These young fish and wildlife guys we all hear speak at these seminares don't really know what the real law is . I know I'm done turning down woodpecker jobs . As fare as removing these woodpeckers that's simple . If you look on the house you will see two holes , the male had a small one and the female has the bigger one . They both will roost there at night . Placing a excluder trap over the hole after dark and you should have them both come mourning . 90% of the time this will be what you run into on a woodpecker job . I'm changing my adds around to include woodpeckers and Sandhill cranes . I will need a permit from my state for Sandhills . Sandhills are very common here now . There also very good to eat I'm told , When goose hunting fields now we have more Sandhills working the field than geese . Wish they would open the season . They are handing out damage control permits Where needed .

If you have any questions regarding administrative aspects of this project, disposition of birds (or their parts), your permit, etc. contact Will McDearman, RCW Recovery Coodinator, at (601) 321-1124 or will_mcdearman@fws.gov. Questions regarding Sue’s research, shipping samples, appropriate sample types, etc. should be directed to Sue at susan_haig@usgs.gov or (541) 750-7482. I appreciate your assistance on this important project and thank you in advance for your cooperation.

One more thing to add . I plan to contact there law division first before i start removing any woodpeckers just to make sure there on the same page with mr mcdearman . I don't need any drama on a job

I'm going with Phils original. Three best friends hanging out together eating some bugs, maybe came across some fermented fruit a female shows up. A fight breaks out the one with the biggest pecker survives the fight. Now he misses his friends and shes gone. It happens every year during the mating season from humans, deer etc. It's embarrassing what males do to each other over the opposite sex.

trapperpaw: Fact; I had this girl-fiend. ( Okay, I used to drink a lot ) I convinced my best friend to take her. ( Because he drank more than I did ) Fortunately, for both us, we had a third friend who ended up married to her. Let's put it this way: It's embarrassing what males do to each other over the opposite sex!

I agree with all who think this was a male/male competition issue. The stresses of breeding season and defending a nesting site or mate stresses allot of animals out making this type of occurrence more common than most would think. Look at WT deer coming out of the rut the rigors of the rut coupled with winter makes this time of year a higher than normal mortality period. Should your friend have more of this type of mortality event in the near future I would suggest collecting the specimens for testing.

As a side note I would suggest double checking on permitting needs before ever doing doing more than non-lethal harassment work on a migratory bird species. While some of the T&E species (red cockaded woodpecker or ivory billed woodpecker, which I think they have almost written off)may require more than one permit I have not seen one bird covered under the MBTA that did not require a permit or special order to deal with.

That is soooooo true. On my first woodpecker call last year the customer had checks with some sort of animal activist background picture and admitted to making donatioins to the World Wildlife Fund. They didn't like the way things needed to be done and asked several times why I couldn't just bring a pellet gun.

Trapped any Bald Eagles lately, pesky?