A Spotted Owl by Any Other Name

Efforts Are Stepped Up For Endangered Southeast Woodpeckers

What has a red head, lives in old-growth forests in the Sioutheast and is closer to extinction than the much publicized spotted owl? If you guessed the red-cockaded woodpecker, you are a rare bird yourself! Indeed, while the controversy over logging spotted owl habitat in the Pacific northwest is well known, a quieter storm is brewing in southeastern states, where the red-cockaded woodpecker is in danger of being wiped out after decades of intensive forestry. Like the spotted owl, red-cockaded woodpeckers also need intact old-growth – in this case, longleaf pine forests.