Story of the Painting:
Nuttall's Woodpecker Family in a Blue Oak Snag
About the Birds
This is a family of Nuttall’s Woodpeckers nesting in a blue oak snag (a standing dead tree). It’s early morning and the pair have just come back with beaks full of food for their nestlings, who are about to fledge (leave the nest). The female is perched on the trunk outside the cavity, holding a juicy snack of beetle larvae in her bill. She used her sharp beak to gather these from under the bark of blue oak branchlets. Their high protein and fat content make them an excellent meal for the young woodpecker, whose head is shoved out of its nest cavity ready to receive the treat.
The male Nuttall’s is perched to the left, also with a beak full of beetle larvae, waiting until mom has fed so he can take his turn. When their babies are this close to leaving the nest, they are especially hungry and need as much food as possible before they launch into the world, making it an extremely busy time of year for the woodpecker parents.
These birds also have personalities, they communicate with each other, they have complex social and behavior patterns, and they have physical adaptations like their stiff notched rectrices and their zygodactyl toes– all being tools for survival.
About the Oak
The Nuttall’s Woodpeckers are ecosystem engineers in the Blue Oak Forest. Woodpeckers are primary cavity nesters, meaning they use their beaks to drill deep cavities into tree trunks, which they use as their nests. In early spring 2015, this Nuttall’s Woodpecker pair took advantage of this dying blue oak to build a nest and raise its young. After the woodpecker babies fledge and leave their cavity nest behind, it will sit empty until a new species of bird (called secondary cavity nesters) begins to investigate the cavity and consider it as a nesting location.
Without pairs such as the Nuttall’s Woodpeckers going around drilling cavities every year, there would be far fewer nesting sites for the diverse suite of secondary cavity nesters that need them and are unable to make them on their own. These woodpeckers basically provide housing for an entire group of bird species.
In this way, the death of the blue oak tree is a gift to the ecosystem - it now becomes a home for another type of life, and exemplifies processes of renewal and recycling of energy that are constantly occurring in complex systems. This tree will stand dead for many, many years, offering a long-term site for cavity nesters to make their homes.
About the Artist:
Mel Preston
Mel Preston (they/them) - I'm a freelance artist and ecologist who specializes in birds and California ecosystems. I have over 15 years of experience in the field, collecting and interpreting ecological data in diverse systems such as burned forests, oak woodlands, deserts, and even the Farallon Islands. As an illustrator, I love combining accurate, detailed representations of the natural world with vibrant imagery to communicate complex ideas. As a former outdoor educator, I especially love using art and story to connect young people to the natural world around them. In our current context of ecological crisis and extreme inequality in human communities, a primary intention of my work is to grow awareness, connection, and care that extends to both human and non-human kin.