American Three-toed Woodpecker

American Three-toed Woodpecker, male

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American Three-toed Woodpecker, adult female

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1. Description
2. Sound
3. Conservation Status
4. Other Names
5. Cool Facts
6. Full detailed species account

Found in boreal forests and montane coniferous forests across North America. Because of its choice of habitat, it is infrequently seen by most people.

Description

• A medium-sized black-and-white woodpecker, more black than white.
• Head black with a white mustache stripe and a thin white line behind eye.
• Throat, breast, and belly white.

• Size: 20 cm (8 in)
• Weight: 65 g (2.29 ounces)

Sex Differences

Male with yellow cap.

Sound

Call note a flat "pik." Drumming rather slow.

Conservation Status

Sensitive to forest fragmentation. Timber harvest may lead to decline. Species of concern in several states.

Other Names

Pic à dos rayé (French)
Carpintero de tres dedos (Spanish)
Northern Three-toed Woodpecker, Three-toed Woodpecker (English)

Cool Facts

• The American Three-toed Woodpecker breeds farther north than any other American woodpecker. The closely related Eurasian Three-toed Woodpecker is the only woodpecker in the world that extends farther north.

• The "Three-toed Woodpecker" was split in 2003 into the American Three-toed and Eurasian Three-toed woodpeckers. The two species are nearly identical in appearance, but differ in mitochondrial DNA sequences and in voice.

• Most woodpeckers have four toes on each foot. The three-toed and Black-backed woodpeckers have only three. The loss of the fourth toe may help deliver stronger blows, but at the expense of climbing ability.

Sources used to construct this page:

1. Banks, R. C., et al. 2003. Forty-fourth supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. Auk 120: 923-931.
2. Leonard, D. L., Jr. 2001. Three-toed Woodpecker (Picoides tridactylus). In The Birds of North America, No. 588 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.