General
Ladder-backed Woodpecker: Small woodpecker with black-and-white barred upperparts, shoulders, and wings, buff-gray underparts with black spots, buff-gray face, red crown, and black forehead, nape, rump, and tail. Female lacks red crown.
Range and Habitat
Ladder-backed Woodpecker: Breeds from southwestern U.S. south to British Honduras. Found in wooded canyons, cottonwood groves, pine and pine oak woodlands, desert scrub, and desert grasslands dominated by mesquite.
Breeding and Nesting
Ladder-backed Woodpecker: Two to seven white eggs are laid in a cavity nest made of bark chips, usually 3 to 30 feet above the ground in a dead tree or branch. Eggs are incubated for 13 days by both parents.
Foraging and Feeding
Ladder-backed Woodpecker: Eats insects and cactus fruit; forages on tree trunks, limbs, and sometimes on the ground.
Readily Eats
Suet, Sunflower Seed, Nuts, Sugar Water, Fruit
Vocalization
Ladder-backed Woodpecker: Call is a clear, high-pitched "pik", often repeated.
Similar Species
Ladder-backed Woodpecker: Nuttall's Woodpecker has black ear patches bordered by white, cleaner white breast, and fewer spots on flanks. Downy and Hairy woodpeckers have solid white backs and lack spots on breasts and flanks.