This article is incomplete. This article is missing one or more sections. You can help the BirdForum Opus by expanding it. |
- Picoides borealis
Identification
20-22 cm long, with a wingspan of about 35 cm. Its back is barred with black and white horizontal stripes, black cap and nape, large white cheek patches, small red streak on each side of its black cap.
Distribution
Southeastern United States, from eastern Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana east to North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
Taxonomy
Placed in genus Leuconotopicus by Gill and Donsker.
Habitat
It nests in small colonies in mature pine forests.
Behaviour
Its diet includes ants, beetles, cockroaches, caterpillars, wood-boring insects, and spiders, and occasionally fruit and berries.
3-4 small white eggs are laid in the breeding male's roost cavity and are incubated by the helpers in the group for 10-12 days. Once hatched, the nestlings remain in the nest cavity for about 26 days.