Multi-Ethnic Bird Guide of the Subantarctic Forests of South America

I. BIRDS OF THE FOREST INTERIOR

A B IRDS O F THE FO REST INTERIOR 47 BIRDS OF THE FOREST INTERIOR A BIRDS OF THE FOREST INTERIOR 48 A B IRDS O F THE FO REST INTERIOR 49 CD 1 / Track 2 The Magellanic Woodpecker is the largest woodpecker species in South America. It belongs to the same genus (Campephilus) as the two largest species of woodpeckers known worldwide: the Imperial Woodpecker (C. imperialis) and the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker (C. principalis). Both species inhabited the forests of North America, and today are presumed to be extinct due to the destruction of their habitats, and hunting pressures. The Magellanic Woodpecker (Campephilus magellanicus) is endemic to the Nothofagus forests of southern Chile and Argentina. It is so specialized in its habitat requirements that it nests solely in old trees of the genus Nothofagus. In the trunks of these trees, it excavates rounded cavities which provide nesting sites not only for woodpecker families, but also for numerous other cavity-nesting birds, such as the Austral Parakeet (Enicognathus ferrugineus) and the Austral Pygmy Owl (Glaucidum nanum). In this way, this woodpecker creates homes for a variety of birds and is, therefore, a keystone species in the austral forest ecosystems. Magellanic Woodpeckers also require old trees to obtain the insect larvae they dig out from rotten wood with their strong beak and tongue. To find appropriate trees to feed upon and live in, these woodpeckers require large territories. In addition, it nests mainly in the interior of old-growth forests more than 100 meters away from the forest edges. For these reasons, Magellanic Woodpeckers are very sensitive to the degradation of the austral temperate forests and their replacement by exotic plantations of Eucalyptus and pine (Pinus radiata). Therefore, they require special conservation measures if they are to avoid becoming extinct like their congeneric species from the Northern Hemisphere temperate forests. Fortunately, it is not too late to save the Magellanic Woodpecker. Although it is a severely endangered species in Chile, it is still possible to observe males moving around with their bright-red, long crests and to listen to woodpecker families calling and pecking in the dense and remote forests that are still intact. Lána Kürüpütriu Carpintero negro Magellanic Woodpecker A B IRDS O F THE FO REST INT ERIOR 50 CD 2 / Track 10 In territories that preserve large expanses of austral forests there will almost always be small families of woodpeckers marking their presence with the loud drumming noise of their pecking. On Chiloe Island this intense sound is associated with the chopping of the mythic trauco’s* hatchet.The Mapuche people of this island, the Williche, call this woodpecker rere or “rooster of the mount,” because its wood-pecking percussion echoes throughout the mountains. The Mapuche people of the continental coasts of Temuco, the Lafkenche, highlight the color of this large woodpecker; hence, it is given the Mapudungun name of kurüpütriu, which describes it as a black (kurü) woodpecker (pütriu). ThelargeMagellanicWoodpeckerorrerereachesthemostsoutherlydistributionofallthewoodpeckers in the world, inhabiting even the forests of the Cape Horn Archipelago, where the Yahgan know it as lana. The name lana derives from the Yahgan word lan that means tongue, referring to the long and strong tongue that the woodpecker uses to extract the larvae. The Yahgan Grandmother Úrsula Calderón remembers that when she was a little girl she very much admired the skill with which the woodpeckers, or lana, pecked holes and extracted grubs or white larvae with their tongues, which they swallowed by throwing their heads back. Her father, Juan Calderón, told her the following story that taught her the kinship between birds and humans. * The trauco is a small mythic inhabitant of the forests of Chiloe Island. He has a human figure and dresses with branches of the vine Luzuriaga radicans. He carries a stone hatchet that he uses to gather fruits and vegetables, and glean food from rotten trunks. He walks through the forests pecking with the hatchet, like a rere. YAHGAN STORY The Magellanic Woodpecker or lana in the forests of the Cape HornArchipelago accompanied the Yahgan women when collecting dihueñes* in the forests. A Yahgan grandfather, Juan Calderón, said the origin of this beautiful bird of the austral forests goes back to ancestral times when birds were still humans. In those remote times, a brother fell in love with his own sister and tried every kind of...