Black-backed Three-toed Woodpecker
Picoides arcticus
Body
Normally sizes about 9" (23 cm). A robin-sized woodpecker. Solid black back, barred flanks, white below. Male has yellow crown; female has solid black crown. Voice of the woodpecker sharp, fast kyik and a scolding rattle. See Black-backed Three-toed Woodpecker in picture.
Habitat
Coniferous forests in the boreal zone, especially where burned, logged, or swampy.
Resident from Alaska east across Canada to the northernmost United States and south to the mountains of California, Wyoming, and South Dakota in West.
Nests
4 white eggs in a cavity excavated in a tree, often rather close to ground.
Diet
Three-toed Woodpeckers primarily consume flying insects (wood-boring beetles compose 75% of the diet!) but also eat tree sap. They forage by gleaning insects from loose bark. By flaking-away and peeling large patches of loose bark with their powerful bills (rather than drilling into it), they are able to hunt for hidden insects.
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