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Pyrodiversity, defined as variation in fire history and characteristics, has been shown to catalyse post‐fire biodiversity in a variety of systems. However, the demographic and behavioural mechanisms driving the responses of individual species to pyrodiversity remain largely unexplored.We used a model post‐fire specialist, the black‐backed woodpecker (Picoides arcticus), to examine the relationship between fire characteristics and juvenile survival while controlling for confounding factors.We radio‐tracked fledgling black‐backed woodpeckers in burned forests of California and Washington, USA, and derived information on habitat characteristics using ground surveys and satellite data. We used hierarchical Bayesian mixed‐effects models to determine the factors that influence both fledgling and annual juvenile survival, and we tested for effects of fledgling age on movement rates.Burn severity strongly affected fledgling survival, with lower survival in patches created by high‐severity fire compared to patches burned at medium to low severity or left unburned. Time since leaving the nest was also a strong predictor of fledgling survival, annual juvenile survival and fledgling movement rates.Our results support the role of habitat complementation in generating species‐specific benefits from variation in spatial fire characteristics—one axis of pyrodiversity—and highlight the importance of this variation under shifting fire regimes. High‐severity fire provides foraging and nesting sites that support the needs of adult black‐backed woodpeckers, but fledgling survival is greater in areas burned at lower severity. By linking breeding and foraging habitat with neighbouring areas of reduced predation risk, pyrodiversity may enhance the survival and persistence of animals that thrive in post‐fire habitat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In western North America, rodents in the family Sciuridae are considered woodpecker nest predators and management to reduce sciurid habitat has been suggested. However, there have been few actual observations of woodpecker nest predation. In 2014, we used passive infrared cameras in an attempt to identify nest predators for white-headed woodpeckers Picoides albolarvatus in Washington. We monitored 17 nests for 4,296 observer-hours and were surprised to document 33 cases in which two putative nest predators-chipmunks Tamias spp. and Douglas squirrels Tamiasciurus douglasii-visited but did not depredate nests. Most nests visited by these rodents were successful (71.4%) and no eggs or nestlings were lost to predation (no partial depredations). Future studies using continuous video surveillance at nests would help identify nest predators of white-headed woodpecker and quantify proportions of nests depredated by different species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Eucharistic Hymm to the Virgin Mother on the Feast of the Nativity Mother of my Jesus, Mother of God so great, tell me of him, of God so small [...]