The red-cockaded woodpecker, once common in the Southeast, still ranges from Texas to the Carolinas, but is found mainly in isolated populations on federal lands. The birds live in small flocks, called clans, boring nesting holes in living pine trees about 60 or more years old. The cluster of trees where the woodpeckers roost is called a colony. According to the U.S. Forest Service, the greatest numbers of known active colonies are found in the Appalachicola National Forest in Florida, with 693, the Kisatchie National Forest in Louisiana, with 314, and the Francis Marion National Forest in South Carolina, where the number dropped after Hurricane Hugo from 487 in 1988 to an estimated 320 to 340 today. Other national forests: Talladega (Ala.), 162 active colonies; Sam Houston (Texas), 133; Bienville (Miss.), 88; Oseola (Fla.), 50; Croatan (N.C.), 45; Angelina-Sabine (Texas), 34; Davy Crockett (Texas), 27; Homochitto (Miss.), 26; DeSoto (Miss.), 18; Ouachita (Ark.), 16; Conecuh (Ala.), 16; Ocala (Fla.), 14; Daniel Boone (Ky.), 6; Cherokee (Tenn.), 1; Oconee (Ga.), 1; Tuskegee (Ala.), 1.
