Woodpeckers in zoos

Breeding the Common golden-backed woodpecker at the Milwaukee County Zoo :

http://piciformes.org/pdf/BreedingGBWP.pdf

 

Chester has kept the following species

Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) 1964
White Woodpecker (Melanerpes candidus) 1982-1994
Greater Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopus major) 1972-1979
White-bellied Woodpecker (Dryocopus javensis) 1969-1970
Greater Yellow-naped Woodpecker (Picus flavinucha) 1969
Western Black-headed Woodpecker (Picus erythropygius nigrigenis) 1971-1975

They bred the white woodpeckers and had young from the Western black-headed woodpeckers, but they were not reared

 

There are several species of woodpecker at the Dallas World aquarium in free flight. I do not know what species, but I will post pictures of the two species I have seen to see if you guys might know.

 

I just identified the two: Puerto Rican woodpecker and Panamanian acorn woodpecker. DWA also keeps golden-naped woodpecker and red-crowned woodpecker.

 

I saw a third woodpecker but assumed it was just a female (it was hanging around what you identified as the acorn woodpecker). Should I post that picture as well?

 

That'd be great. There aren't too many photos of DWA's diversity in birds posted, and you take great photos! I'll see if I can ID it as well.

 

Javan Rhino, Phoenix zoo bred a male Gila woodpecker in 1996. Unfortunately International Zoo Yearbook volume 36 was the last to publish breeding lists. So I do not know if they ever bred any more, or if other collections did so.

 

I've only ever seen one woodpecker exhibit - for White-backed Woodpecker at Skansen in Stockholm. They were very active birds; it struck me what a good exhibit they make.

 

Seen white woodpecker at Chester and London, red-rumped green at Chester, blond-crested and fulvous-breasted at Birdworld.

Also several species that I can't now remember at Winged world

Seen greater spotted and green in the wild. Almost saw a lesser spotted in the wild, but missed by milliseconds.

 

Fascinating little birds. From my experience they are quite shy too and react more quickly to human movement than the larger Woodpeckers do, by flying away. Ten years ago I don't think I'd ever seen one either, but then I learnt how to track them down- always look mainly in the highest canopy of trees,while keeping quiet and keen eyes are the main requirements. The best ways of locating them are by call (a sharp 'keekeekee' rather like Kestrel) and their rather weak drumming-quieter than Greater's and dies away at the end with no abrupt stop. Spring, between now and May is the best time to see them too, while there are no leaves on the trees and they are most vocal and drumming. I have seen them at the nest too and my most recent sighting was the only one I have had of the floating 'butterfly' display flight the male gives to a female.

 

It is captive because Gila woodpeckers live in the southwest.

 

The National Zoo keeps Pileated Woodpeckers in the aviary in a small glass-fronted exhibit. I've got a pretty nice picture of one, but I don't know where it is.

 

All the woodpeckers that I've seen in captivity was single birds, so they would need a couple for breed. I've seen:

Common flameback (Dinopium javanense) at Barcelona Zoo when child, in an indoor glass aviary
White woodpecker (Melanerpes candidus) at Barcelona Zoo in my second and last visit when adult, in an outdoor enclosure shared with Great Curassows (formerly home of Golden Conures).
Greater yellownape (Picus flavinucha) in Plzen Zoo behind-the-scenes bird room
Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) at Plzen Zoo native wood birds enclosure near goittered gazelles and ground hornbills, this enclosure is shared with a lot of small passerines (tits, siskins, crossbills...) so the mentioned possible predation from woodpeckers to nestlings of other birds must be taken in account...

 

Both Skansen and Nordens ark Keep white-backed woodpecker

 

I know that Copenhagen Zoo keeps white woodpeckers in their Rainforest Hall.

 

San Diego Zoo and Zoo Miami both have greater yellow-naped woodpeckers.

 

Minnesota also has Downy Woodpeckers. I have also seen Downies at Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary (in the wild and in the exhibits.)

 

Just came along a small note about the Hispaniolan woodpecker - Chryserpes striatus.
As already said in a previous post in this threat ( # 18 ) I was so lucky to take care for this species at Walsrode and on a later date they even bred there.
I was quite sure that this was the only keeping and world-first breeding of this species ( ZTL also don't mention any other European collection ever having kept them ) but by digging a little in old magazines I came along a small note from Rotterdam Zoo that in 1968 a pair hatched succesfully a brood but they were not able to raise the chicks..