To stay or not to stay? That is the question. At least, if you’re a male Red-cockaded Woodpecker fledgling.

As we explored last month, male RCWs may linger with their natal families or take a chance on unfamiliar territory. But their sisters are the true wayfarers. Almost without exception, female fledglings take flight into the unknown, braving long odds, embracing risk, and helping secure the survival of their kind.

Unlike their brothers, juvenile female RCWs nearly always disperse from their natal territory during their first year. This early departure plays a vital role in maintaining genetic diversity across the population. While male fledglings often remain as helpers, and if they achieve breeder status, typically hold that position for life, females are far more mobile. They seldom stay on as helpers, and even as breeders, they exhibit greater movement between territories than males do.

Researchers have mapped out the full range of possible outcomes for one-year-old female RCWs: they may stay and help, stay and breed, disperse and breed, become solitary, help another family, or float without a breeding position. But the overwhelming majority, about 85%, disperse and breed. The second most likely outcome, accounting for nearly 11%, is to disperse and become a floater: a non-breeding bird without a defended territory. The remaining outcomes are rare.

When females do successfully secure breeding roles, it’s usually by filling a vacancy, which can happen when a breeding female dies, when a breeding female’s son inherits the breeding position after her mate’s death and she vacates to prevent inbreeding, or when another breeding female has dispersed and left a vacancy. Pairing with a solitary male who holds a territory is less common, and females almost never pair with floater males or displace other females from active breeding sites.

Even after attaining breeder status, female RCWs remain more mobile than males. One study found that annually 56% of breeding females stayed in the same territory while 11% dispersed to a new one, 1% became floaters, and 31% died. (Compared to just 5% of breeding males who relocate, with 71% staying in their breeding territory.) 

What drives this dispersal? Often, it’s the desire to avoid inbreeding or improve mate quality after a failed breeding attempt. But the cost is high: an estimated 59% of dispersing female breeders die, compared to just 24% of those who remain in place.

Because Red-cockaded Woodpeckers so rarely form new pairs and instead rely on replacing missing members of established groups, efforts to grow their population require more than just suitable habitat, they demand strategic intervention. Conservationists have stepped in with inventive solutions, forming new breeding groups through carefully managed efforts. Next month, we’ll explore those interventions, how scientists craft new RCW communities, and how these efforts offer hope for an imperiled species.