High Density Nesting of Black-backed Woodpeckers (Picoides arcticus) in a Post-fire Great Lakes Jack Pine Forest

A stand-replacing fire in 404 ha of jack pine (Pinus banksiana) and mixed pine forest in Michigan's Upper Peninsula in 2007 resulted in Black-backed Woodpeckers (Picoides arcticus) nesting at high density in 2008, the second possible nesting season post-fire. Nests were found within a 93-ha study area and a 19-ha stand (a subset of the 93-ha study area) in 199.5 survey hours concentrated in March July. The 19-ha stand had six nests, a density of 0.31 nests/ha or 0.63 individuals/ha, while the 93-ha study area had 20 nests yielding 0.21 nests/ha or 0.42 individuals/ha. These nest densities are higher than previously reported in the literature for comparable stands, indicating a large influx of nesting woodpeckers post-fire. High nesting densities in this study may have resulted from: (1) optimal timing of the fire for wood-boring beetle exploitation of burned trees, (2) the discrete nature of burned habitat in the study due to impacts of salvage logging, or (3) our focus on regions of the burn where high nesting densities occurred, as the entire burned area (404 ha) was not included in nest density calculations. Received 23 April 2010. Accepted 28 December 2010.