Altamaha Basin > Hydrology > Water Quality > Environmental Threats > Human Impacts >
       Cultural Features > Coastal Habitats > Tributaries > Plants > Animals > Sapelo Island

Aves

Red-cockaded Woodpecker Picoides borealis

This small, black-and-white woodpecker is endemic to the frequently burned, old-growth pine woodlands which once covered much of the southeastern U.S. Habitat loss has made it the rarest woodpecker in North America. It was probably once common in the study area, but conversion of most uplands and flatwoods to pine plantations has resulted in the Red-cockaded Woodpecker's virtual extermination in the Altamaha River basin. A few isolated colonies of this species survive in Appling and Long counties.