ILLUSTRATION
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SUMMARY
Overview
White-headed Woodpecker: Medium-sized woodpecker, mostly black with large white wing patches. Head and throat are white; nape patch is red and narrow. Small black stripe behind the eye. Bill is black and small. Legs and feet are black. This is the only North American woodpecker with a white head.
Range and Habitat
White-headed Woodpecker: Resident from extreme south-central British Columbia, northeastern Washington, and Idaho, south to southern California and western Nevada. Some birds migrate down mountain slopes in the winter. Ponderosa pine belts in mountains are the preferred habitat.
SONGS AND CALLS
Listen to Call
White-headed Woodpecker
Voice Text
"pee-dink", "pee-dee-dee-dink"
INTERESTING FACTS
- The White-headed Woodpecker was first described in 1850 by John Cassin, an American ornithologist. It is one of the most poorly studied woodpeckers in North America.
- The larger bill of the southern subspecies may an adaptation for being better able to feed on the large, spiny cones of Coulter Pines.
- Because they pry rather than hammer bark from trees and forage by excavating cones, their foraging tends to be quieter than that of other woodpeckers.
- A group of woodpeckers has many collective nouns, including a "descent", "drumming", and "gatling" of woodpeckers.
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