Woodpeckers in zoos

Breeding-results of Woodpeckers during 1980 - 1989 from the Int. Zooyear Books Vol. 22 - 30 :

1980 : - White woodpecker : Basle 2 (1)

1981 : - White woodpecker : Basle 3

1982 : - White woodpecker : Basle 4

1984 : - White woodpecker : Basle (1) *
: St. Louis (1)

1985 : - White woodpecker : St. Louis 2

1987 : - White woodpecker : Chester 3*

- Red-rumped green woodpecker : Miami 0.1.1 (1)

- Golden-backed three-toed woodpecker : Miami (1)

1988 : - White woodpecker : Chester 5*

- Black-cheeked woodpecker : Avifauna 8

1989 : - Golden-fronted piculet : Farnham 3 (2)

: - Yellow-fronted woodpecker : Villars 3

: - Black-cheeked woodpecker : Avifauna 6

: - Great spotted woodpecker : Dresden 6

: - Blond-crested woodpecker : Farnham (3)

: - Red-rumped green woodpecker : Miami 1.0.2 (2)
: Philadelphia 1.1.3 (3)

( number in parentheses means : numbers that did not survived )
( * means : second generation )
 
Started to dig into the history of woodpecker-keeping at Artis - Amsterdam Zoo and had expected to find a huge number of species kept at this place which was ones among the species-richest zoos in the world.
Many animals came from the ( former ) colonies Surinam, the West Indies and from Indonesia and in all these places, good numbers of woodpeckers are living.
I could not find however hardly any notes about woodpeckers brought in from these areas with one exeption.
ZTL lists only 2 species kept in the rich history of the zoo :
- White-barred piculet - from 1860 till ? . This species is found - among other countries - in Surinam and I guess the specimen(s?) came from there
- Black-headed woodpecker ( 1982-1994 ) I can remember having seen this specimen myself during this time.
ZTL don't mention a single European species ever being kept at Artis but this is not correct, I found notes about 5 different species being kept at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century :
- 1891 - Green woodpecker
- 1892 - Green woodpecker
- 1896 - Wryneck and Green woodpecker
- 1899 - 3 Greater spotted woodpeckers and 1 Green woodpecker
- 1902 - Green woodpecker
- 1904 - Green woodpecker
- 1905 - Black woodpecker
- 1910 - Middle spotted woodpecker
 
I believe Buttonwood Park Zoo used to have some sort of woodpecker in what is now the Rainforest building (back then it had a lot of birds native to New England, mostly aquatic ecosystems. However, it almost always was a no-show animal, I wonder if that is a trend and it makes them unappealing exhibit animals.
 
Neil chace said:
I believe Buttonwood Park Zoo used to have some sort of woodpecker in what is now the Rainforest building (back then it had a lot of birds native to New England, mostly aquatic ecosystems. However, it almost always was a no-show animal, I wonder if that is a trend and it makes them unappealing exhibit animals.
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I think they had a Pileated woodpecker.
 
Warsaw zoo usually has 1-2 species. They live in the wing of native birds of the bird house and come from the rehabilitation center for wild birds run by the zoo. They had black and middle spotted woodpeckers for many years. Naturally this changes, as old birds die and new non-releasable rescues appear.
 
Woodpeckers are certainly not rare in zoos here in Brazil, quite the opposite actually, they are fairly common / standard.

In most of the zoos here you will typically see a couple of individuals of Colaptes campestris, Melanerpes flavifrons and Melanerpes candidus in particular (mostly rescued birds that for whatever reason were not able to be rehabilitated to their wild state).
 
At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuary the National Zoo Washington reports to have had 2 Woodpecker-species in their collection :
1 Northern flicker
3 Gila woodpeckers - one of them lived there from 1927 to at least 1930
 
Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
Woodpeckers are certainly not rare in zoos here in Brazil, quite the opposite actually, they are fairly common / standard.

In most of the zoos here you will typically see a couple of individuals of Colaptes campestris, Melanerpes flavifrons and Melanerpes candidus in particular (mostly rescued birds that for whatever reason were not able to be rehabilitated to their wild state).
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Melanerpes flavifrons was around in the bird trade in my lifetime
 
The New York Zoological Park ( Bronx ) report it kept 3 species around 1910 :
- Greater spotted woodpecker
- Golden-fronted woodpecker
- Northern flicker
 
FBBird said:
Melanerpes flavifrons was around in the bird trade in my lifetime
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Are they still turning up or no longer? M. flavifrons is quite pretty, I wish they were on display somewhere here in North America.

In a similar vein, I recall @vogelcommando posting a photo of a woodpecker at a bird show not too long ago, a Great or Middle Spotted Woodpecker if I recall right.
 
vogelcommando said:
- White-barred piculet - from 1860 till ? . This species is found - among other countries - in Surinam and I guess the specimen(s?) came from there
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Found a little more information about this species at Artis. ZTL is wrong with the year it was obtained because Artis imported the animal 1866 from Brazil.

Also found some more Woodpecker info from Artis :
First year Greater spotted woodpecker was kept : 1859
First year Green woodpecker was kept : 1841

And 2 more species which have been kept at Artis :
- Northern flicker : 1876
- Lesser spotted woodpecker : 1853
 
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vogelcommando said:
Realy strange that this large family of birds from which many species are real colorfull birds are so rarely kept and bred in captivity because their close relatives, for example Toucans and Barbets are regulary kept !
I myself have taken care for 5 species and had breeding-results with 2 of them :
- Hispaniolan woodpecker - took care for it at Walsrode ( bred there after I left ) - see Hispaniolan woodpecker | ZooChat
- Black-cheeked woodpecker - took care for it and bred it very succesfully at both a privat collection in the Netherlands and at Walsrode.
- White woodpecker - also taken care for and bred succesfully at Walsrode. See White woodpecker | ZooChat
- Great spotted woodpecker - took care for several injured ( wild ) bird which were brought to Walsrode and after recovery, they were released again into the wild.
- European green woodpecker - the same as for the Great spotted woodpecker.
Next to these 5 species I guess I've seen maybe 5 to 7 other species in captivity
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For some strange reason I forgot 2 more species of Woodpecker which I've taken care for ... :( ?? ). Both species were at Walsrode and kept behind the scenes :

- White-bellied woodpecker - Dryocopus javensis - a single female which later ( 1987 ) was offered for sale ( German marks 400 )
- Olive woodpecker - Mesopicos griseocephalus - a single male which was later ( 1987 ) offered for sale ( German marks 250 ) ( this species is not mentioned at ZTL at all ).
 
Have pale-billed woodpeckers ever been displayed? Those are really neat birds. I saw one in Costa Rica. It's too bad nobody ever managed to exhibit imperials or ivory-bills.
 
vogelcommando said:
For some strange reason I forgot 2 more species of Woodpecker which I've taken care for ... :( ?? ). Both species were at Walsrode and kept behind the scenes :

- White-bellied woodpecker - Dryocopus javensis - a single female which later ( 1987 ) was offered for sale ( German marks 400 )
- Olive woodpecker - Mesopicos griseocephalus - a single male which was later ( 1987 ) offered for sale ( German marks 250 ) ( this species is not mentioned at ZTL at all ).
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And by checking one of my notebooks I discovered even a third species which I was forgotten completly :
- Black-rumped flameback - Dinopium benghalense.
Can't remember anything anymore about this species and on ZTL Walsrode is mentioned as being a former keeper of the species but without any further information. From my notes it is now however sure that the species was kept on public view in 1986.
 
elefante said:
Have pale-billed woodpeckers ever been displayed? Those are really neat birds. I saw one in Costa Rica. It's too bad nobody ever managed to exhibit imperials or ivory-bills.
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I think that ivory billed woodpeckers were kept by zoos (not bred though) in the USA and possibly in Cuba around the turn of the last century weren't they ?
 
Sorry if this has been mentioned before, but is there any Yellow-crowned Woodpeckers in captivity? They are quite interesting birds from the Indian subcontinent I think.
 
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