From Opus

Photo by Michael W
Lake McDonald, Glacier National Park (West), Montana, USA

Picoides dorsalis

[edit] Identification

8 1/2" (22 cm).
Back barred black and white. Male has yellow crown; female has solid black crown. A woodpecker with size similar to American Robin.

[edit] Similar Species

Similar to Black-backed Woodpecker, but smaller and bill shorter;

[edit] Distribution

Resident in Alaska (except the far north) and east across non-Arctic Canada to extreme northern United States; in the West additionally south to mountains of Arizona and New Mexico.

[edit] Taxonomy

Smaller and darker than the Eurasian Three-toed Woodpecker, with which it has been considered conspecific.

Female
Photo by Michael W
Fish Creek Campground, Lake McDonald, Glacier National Park (West), Montana, USA, August 2005

[edit] Subspecies^[1]

• P. d. dorsalis:

• Rocky Mountains from Montana to Nevada and north-western New Mexico

• P. d. fasciatus:

• Alaska and Yukon south to Oregon, northern Idaho and western Montana

• P. d. bacatus:

• Alberta, Labrador and Newfoundland south to Minnesota and north-eastern US

[edit] Habitat

Coniferous and spruce forests particularly where degraded by burning and logging, or swampy.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Breeding

Four white eggs are laid. The nest is in a tree hole that is beveled on the lower side of the entrance to form a sort of doorstep for the birds.

[edit] Vocalisation

A soft pik, similar to call of Downy Woodpecker.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
2. Boreal Birds
3. enature

• List of references

[edit] External Links