Hope grows that the fragile existence of the red-cockaded woodpecker may win the battle against extinction. In the Homochitto Forest not far from Natchez, a grand and noble experiment has been under way for about 10 years to relocate the small woodpeckers and give them a chance to survive as a species.

The birds were brought from Florida to Mississippi after a trial breeding and foraging area was prepared in the old pine forests the woodpeckers prefer.

Forest rangers then and still today speak reverently of the program, knowing how easily the red-cockaded could go the way of its cousin, the ivory-billed woodpecker, now believed to be extinct.

When John James Audubon visited the lower Mississippi River Valley in the early 1820s, he found the red-cockaded woodpeckers in abundance. But 150 years later, the birds, which are about the size of the cardinal, were named to the endangered species list.

Increased logging and clearing for agricultural use destroyed the habitats needed by the red-cockaded woodpeckers, who are the only ones who make their cavities in live pine trees.

In fact, the trees must be more than simply alive. They must be mature, 80 to 150 years old, preferably. The older pine trees are susceptible to a disease that makes their centers soft. Still, it takes the birds up to three years to dig out the cavity for nesting.

Mike Winborne has worked with the Homochitto program for four to five years. A ranger with the U.S. Forest Service, he has watched with great interest the habits and movements of the red-cockaded woodpeckers.

From a small number released when the program began, the numbers have grown to about 50 active colonies. The population continues to grow about 10 to 15 percent a year.

&uot;We’re relying on our own population for the growth, not bringing new birds in from somewhere else,&uot; he said.

The storms that swept across central Mississippi a couple of weeks ago did extensive damage in the forest area where the woodpeckers live, he said.

Rangers scrambled to repair damage and create new cavities to replace the trees destroyed in the storm. Damage to the colonies appears to be minimal.

Among the complex habits of the birds are their colony activities. As many as six or eight birds may live together as a colony when the population is at an optimum level.

In the Homochitto area, sometimes only one bird lives with the breeding pair, helping to incubate the eggs and to forage for the young chicks.

Tree-climbing snakes are among the worst enemies of the birds, and a clever defense helps to keep the snakes at bay. The birds peck the pine tree below and above the nesting cavity to make sticky resin stream down the tree. The resin adheres to a snake’s skin and makes it impossible for it to climb to the cavity. Projects such as the one in the Homochitto Forest are taking place in other parts of Mississippi and in other states in the Southeast. Winborne does not know how successful the others have been. But for now he is confident that the future is rosier for the red-cockaded woodpecker.

It would be easy to use the old expression that they’re not out of the woods yet. And it could go either way, literally or figuratively.

Joan Gandy, special projects director, can be reached at 445-3549 or via e-mail, joan.gandy@natchezdemocrat.com.