Three-toed Woodpecker (Picoides tridactylus)

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A Field Guide to Eastern Birds. by Roger Tory Peterson.

Return to Eastern Woodpeckers

Color Photograph: U.S. Forest Service

Male

Female

Three-toed Woodpecker (Picoides tridactylus)

Identification: Length from tip of bill to tip of tail 8.5 inches.

Male: Crown of the head black with a dorsal yellow patch. Dorsal side of the head black. Lower side of head white with a broad, black line from the base of the bill to the rear of the neck. A thin, long, white line from the rear margin of the eye. Back with a ladderlike arrangement of black and white lines. Apical third of wing with white stripes. Neck, breast, and abdomen white with diffuse black lines along the sides.

Female: Similar to the male but without a yellow cap on the top of the head.

Similar Species:  The Black-backed Woodpecker is a similar species, but the back has a ladderlike arrangement of black and white lines. The white line from the rear margin of the eye is thinner and shorter. Both the Downy Woodpecker and the Hairy Woodpecker have white blacks and the side of the head is primarily white. The white striping on the wings of these two species are stronger and occupy a larger proportion of the wing. The back of the Red-cockaded Woodpecker also has a ladderlike pattern of black and white stripes and the side of the head is primarily white. However the white markings of the wing occupy the entire wing, not just its apex. The male lacks a yellow crown patch.

Breeding Range (see map below): The Three-toed Woodpecker is a resident of the boreal coniferous forests of North America. The species is also resident in the coniferous montane forests of the Rocky Mountains as far south as Arizona.

Overwintering Range:  See above.

Habitat:  Coniferous forest, particularly where it is burned, swampy, or has been logged.

Food: Wood boring insects.

Behavior: In common with most other woodpeckers, the Black-backed Woodpecker makes its living drilling holes in trees and extracting insect larvae with its barbed tongue. The species is tame, but not common anywhere. The voice is a sharp pik.

Reproduction:  The clutch consists of 4 white eggs laid in a tree hole.