Nuttall’s woodpecker ( Picoides nuttallii) – California.Black-backed woodpecker ( Picoides arcticus) – southern Canada, scattered in western states.American three-toed woodpecker ( Picoides dorsalis) – midwest US, the southern half of Canada up to Alaska.Downy woodpecker ( Picoides pubescens) – most of the US and the southern half of Canada up to Alaska.They tend to drill a series of holes in a line, feeding on the sap and the insects attracted to it. The four genera that contain North American black and white woodpeckers are all found in Tribe Melanerpini, along with the one genus ( Sphyrapicus) of black and white sapsuckers, with one exception – the Ivory-billed woodpecker – located in the Tribe Campephilini.Īll the sapsuckers have dashes of yellow on their breast or belly, and all are migratory to some extent because they rely on sap (as their name suggests). Within that, there are five tribes of woodpeckers. There’s nothing linking them except that they all have evolved some variation of using black and white in their feathers – and they don’t even do that the same way! TaxonomyĪll true woodpeckers are in the Subfamily Picinae. They are different sizes, with different migratory patterns, and occupy different habitats. They are not clumped into one genus, so their similar colors are not from a shared evolutionary history. The hairy and downy woodpeckers are so common that sometimes birdwatchers can be forgiven for forgetting that woodpeckers come in other colors! Bottom line up frontīlack and white woodpeckers have similarities in coloration but little else. Luckily for birdwatchers, within North America, only some of those are black and white, and only a handful of the black and white ones fall into the category of ‘lookalike’ that requires a bit of extra attention to tell apart.Įspecially during North America’s winter, you are likely to see one or two species of black and white woodpeckers on your backyard feeder. There are about 240 species of woodpeckers in this subfamily. To get to true woodpeckers, we need to go one taxonomic unit lower to Subfamily Picinae. It also means that you can find woodpeckers by listening for the repeated taps that show they are excavating cavities or drilling for food.Īll woodpeckers are within the Family Picidae, but this includes two other groups of birds (wrynecks and piculets). Various other species subsequently use these nesting cavities, so woodpeckers are essential in providing homes for other wildlife. Woodpeckers come in many shapes and sizes and have a diversity of feeding strategies and habitats, but there’s one thing that they all do: drill into wood to make cavities. That means I’ll never be able to tell some species apart (the dreaded flycatchers come to mind), but I’m very cued into an individual’s colors and behaviors instead. I’ll fully admit I’m a visual birder, not an auditory one: I’m much better at identifying birds by their appearance instead of their sound. Tap-tap-tap…tap-tap-tap…if you’re anything like me, the unmistakable sound of a woodpecker instantly draws your attention.
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