Central Oregonians know spring by several indicators. Lower-elevation trails firm up, construction sites multiply and — B-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-a-p! — the drumroll of woodpeckers rattles overhead.

Spring is when the woodpeckers are busy drumming, pecking for larvae and drilling out cavities in tree trunks to lay eggs. With most being year-round Central Oregon residents, woodpeckers are getting a head start while about 175 other avian species will stream in during the spring months. Many fellow birds will hole up in the cavities woodpeckers abandoned in previous years. Each spring, woodpeckers re-home in a variety of snags and old trees alike.

In honor of these industrious, if sometimes rackety, birds the East Cascades Audubon Society is hosting the Dean Hale Woodpecker Festival in Sisters from May 31 to June 3. Online registration begins April 2, and the 240 spots fill up within an hour, organizers said. Individual tours range in cost from $25 to $35, which attendees pick a la carte.

The nonprofit conservation group will guide bird tours through a dozen woodpecker hotspots in the Deschutes National Forest near Sisters and Bend, with several of them including the sites of recent forest fires. In Central Oregon, it’s possible to see 11 woodpecker varieties of the 22 that reside in North America.

“That’s pretty significant,” said Ken Hashagen, Audubon Society president and festival chairman. “This is the time they are mating and breeding and are easier to locate because they have nest holes (in tree trunks). If you find a nest hole, you can sit outside and wait for the birds to come.”

Woodpeckers 101

Steve Shunk, 51, a local woodpecker expert and East Cascades Audubon Society member, founded the festival in 2008. After a one-year hiatus, the group picked it back up in 2011, streamlined its organization and retained Shunk as a guide. While the nearly 30 guides are serious bird experts, Shunk, who authored the 2016 “Peterson Reference Guide to Woodpeckers,” might be the most effusive in talking about them. He combines 30 years of birding expertise with the awe of a newbie birdwatcher.

“It’s always exciting to hear the first (woodpecker) drumroll of the year,” Shunk said, adding that he also recently enjoyed hearing northern flickers’ courtship calls. “Drumming is woodpeckers’ biggest territorial proclamation. Each woodpecker can be identified by its drumming. It takes some practice, but you can at least tell what genus or general group they’re from.”

Resident birds in Central Oregon, such as woodpeckers, begin their courtship and breeding sooner than migrants.

“Drumming,” which is a steady, prolonged drumroll, lets woodpeckers announce their presence to potential mates and rivals alike. It is very different from the sporadic rat-a-tat-tat of woodpeckers combing a tree truck for larvae or sap.

“People tell me, ‘Oh, yeah, woodpeckers come and (drum) on my house at 5 o’clock in the morning,’” Shunk said. “I hear that all the time.”

Ecologically indispensable

Much ado about woodpeckers is warranted. Beyond occupying a special place in one’s imagination — thanks, Woody — woodpeckers are also ecologically integral.

“They’re a keystone organism because they make a new cavity each year,” Shunk said. Once vacated, the holes give invaluable housing to other birds, such as blue birds, wrens, chickadees and small owls. Pileated woodpeckers vacate cavities so large that small ducks — such as the bufflehead, Barrow’s goldeneye and the hooded merganser, have been known to set up residency.

Woodpeckers are some of the first birds to repopulate a recently burned forest. During the woodpecker festival, guides will take groups of 10 through sites like areas burned by the Milli Fire, located 8 miles west of Sisters. Burn areas are rich in beetle larvae that attract the carnivorous woodpeckers.

“The woodpeckers are adapted for this behavior and know there is a bounty of food there,” Shunk said.

Central Oregon’s most common woodpecker species include the hairy and downy woodpeckers. They’re black and white with hints of red and are on the small side. The pigeon-sized northern flicker is also ubiquitous. It’s a tan bird with black polka dots on its chest and orange under its wing and tail. The males feature rouge streaks below their eyes, and both sexes feature handsome black chest emblems.

Lewis’ Woodpecker

The woodpecker festival will hone in on less-common woodpeckers. The Lewis’ woodpecker was originally recorded by Meriwether Lewis (of Lewis and Clark).

“The Lewis’s Woodpecker is very showy, acrobatic woodpecker,” Shunk said. “Instead of pecking on trees for food or feeding off the ground like a northern flicker, they catch aerial insects.”

Birders can get an early glimpse of Lewis’ woodpecker by early April. The woodpecker festival will offer a guided trip through Shevlin Park to view this striking bird, which looks like it’s wearing an iridescent, dark green blazer. The Lewis’ woodpecker’s chest is a pinkish white, and it wears a red mask on its black head.

“Shevlin Park is where the biggest show is,” Shunk said.

One ponderosa snag is particularly popular with the Lewis’ woodpecker.

“People go there, and these spectacular woodpeckers are chasing each other overhead, trying to set up breeding territories, and it’s very entertaining,” Shunk said. “It’s kind of a big deal.”

Pileated woodpecker

Also to receive VIP, red-carpet attention is the pileated woodpecker. About the size of an American crow, it is the largest woodpecker in North America, Shunk said. The pileated woodpecker has a red mohawk and wears black, white and red stripes on its face. It’s also one of two birds that inspired the Woody Woodpecker cartoon character, which might make it the most familiar woodpecker to the uninitiated. The festival will give attendees the chance to add the pileated woodpecker to their lists with visits to areas near Trout and Dry creeks and Suttle, Santiam and Shadow lakes. While they’re not common within Bend city limits, good viewing spots for pileated woodpeckers are found along Skyliners Road.

“They’re huge, and they can tear apart rotten wood like a jackhammer,” Shunk said. “When they’re pretty focused on that, you can get pretty close and watch.”

Other notables

Several other woodpecker species attract festivalgoers from around the country. The most sought-after woodpecker in the continent might be the American three-toed woodpecker, Shunk said. Central Oregon is the extreme western edge of its range, which stretches along the Rocky Mountains to New Mexico. They have picky habitat preferences, so they’re hard to find. The black-backed woodpecker, which is gold-capped and wears black and white stripes beneath its black overcoat, is also a popular yet elusive bird that thrives in a fire-adapted forest environment.

Other woodpeckers are better heard than seen. The sapsuckers family, which includes the Lewis’ woodpecker and three others, has the most distinct drumroll, Shunk said.

“They have this punctuated or syncopated drumroll that goes: “d-r-r-r-a-bup-bup-bup — bop,” said Shunk, sounding like a scatting jazz vocalist. “Each of those are a bunch of really fast drum notes, or taps. You can identify a sapsucker very easily.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7816, pmadsen@bendbulletin.com