white-headed woodpecker

My first White-headed Woodpecker (lifer #187), seen at Chilao Campground in the Angeles National Forest with my non-birding friend as we took a day trip into the San Gabriel Mountains shortly after graduating high school. In addition to the woodpecker, the other life birds I saw that day were...

A pair at the nidus. This is a common species of woodpecker in California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho, but it is found in upper montane forest: usually above 4000 ft. elevation. It is the only woodpecker with a black body and white head.

Sadly, I do not have a better shot of this bird. I post it just for completing the Pair with the F I posted some time ago.

Met a pair in Yosemite National Park, Cal. But this is the best I can do.

re-worked this shot from '08 for an upcoming field guide.

This is the only species of woodpecker in North America that is all black with a white head. The sexes are dimorphous, with the female absent the red in the head area. They are not a difficult bird to get images of, but you will have to to into montain, coniferous forests to get them. This...

Several of the large pine trees in the camp we had established were weeping sap. In most cases this weeping is due to an infestation of a species of beatle that has, for the last few years, been killing large stands of old growth forest. This, in turn, is due to a long drought that has gripped...

This is a juvenile male as told by the slight amount of red on the crown, which will become a bold red patch.

Cabin Lake is a desolate, dry lake with a Ranger Station featuring two bird-watching blinds and artificially watered basins only 4-5 ft. across for area birds which have come to rely upon the water source.

This male White-headed Woodpecker gave quite a show for about 5 minutes. This is one of my favorite species!

These birds are limited to the higher elevations of the Sierra Mnts. (approx. 5000-8000 ft.) The lighting is tough,as they inhabit very dark dens forest areas; had to use ISO 800 so the image will be a little grainy. Juvenile males (like this one) have the red on fore-head, extending to black...

Cooling his tail I guess. It wasn't that warm, but I suppose He had his reasons.

This male White-headed Woodpecker was creating rectangular holes in a branch of a Ponderosa pine.