Nuttall's Woodpecker

Nuttall's Woodpecker
Solstice Canyon Park, Malibu, California, USA
July 2018
Member of the Woodpecker Family
§A Descent of Woodpeckers§

~True Bird Fact~ Not a tremendously interesting bird, since most of the fun facts I could find about her were things like "she lives near oak trees, BUT DOESN'T EAT ACORNS!" We love to have fun here in the birding community. One thing that's kind of neat, that this bird has in common with last week's Island Jay, is that she developed into a distinct species as a result of a geological split (this time by a desert, not a body of water). Nuttall's speciated from the much larger-ranged Ladder-backed Woodpeckers some time between 2.5 million and 11 thousand years ago, and now only live in Califorina (both the US and Mexican states).

Big fan of 'fun' office supplies (i.e. You Don't Have to be Crazy to Work Here... But it Helps!)
Taking a karate class
They say she doesn't eat acorns, but she tries one every once in a while just to make sure she still doesn't like them



So we have another bird named after an old white dude, so you know what that means. It's another Naturalist Profile!

Thomas Nuttall

(1786 - 1859)

I swear half these guys are named Thomas. Anyway, Nuttall was mostly a botanist who did a lot of work cataloging the plants and trees of the young United States. Mostly considered to be a birding guy because of his popular bird book, Manual of the Ornithology of the United States and Canada, which he published in 1832. He also published the first complete record of the Tree Species of North America. It was called North American Sylva: Trees not described by F. A. Michaux. That's the name of another botanist who was working at the time, so yes, this book appears to be a 19th century sub-tweet.

He's got some other stuff named after him, but it appears to be mostly named in honor of him by other people. This woodpecker here, for example, was 'discovered' by his bro William Gambel, whose quail we are acquainted with. I'll take this to mean that he was well liked. He did go on a ton of expeditions and seems like he was very enthusiastic about nature. I give Thomas Nuttall 4/5 stars.