Red-cockaded woodpecker gets care and protection in Alabama (with video and gallery) (al.com)
By Thomas Spencer -- The Birmingham News
At 7 days old, the trio of red-cockaded woodpecker chicks -- blind and writhing about in the palm of the biologist's hand -- looked impossibly fragile.
But U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Eric Spadgenske worked quickly and carefully Monday morning, fixing color-coded bracelets of pink and yellow on the spindly legs of this next generation of the endangered species.
"There they are with all their new jewelry," Spadgenske said, showing them off before tucking them back into a coffee can and ascending the ladder to return them to the nest 22 feet up a skinny longleaf pine on an island on Lake Mitchell.
The banding expedition is part of long-term effort by Alabama Power, in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to preserve the critically endangered population of about 30 birds that make their home near the reservoir on land owned by the power company, a private individual, the state Forever Wild program and John Hancock Timber Resource Group.
Nationwide, there might be 16,000 red-cockaded woodpeckers stretched across 11 southeastern states.
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more: http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2012/05/red-cockaded_woodpecker_gets_c.html
An article about this ran in our local paper today. I also spotted the first yellow-shafted flicker I've seen in our back yard today. (Last Summer, I hardly saw any woodpeckers at all -- the year before, I spotted every species of woodpecker in our area except Pileated and Red-Cockaded in our back yard.) So I've kind of got woodpeckers on my mind lately. 
I'm afraid that loss of trees to tornados and some new land-clearing for construction in our area may have diminished local woodpecker populations. I'm hoping that the first sighting may be a harbinger for better news this year.
ETA: These woodpeckers have lost habitat to hurricanes as well as tornadoes -- see http://wild.enature.com/blog/hurricanes-and-birds
