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Bird name:

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Picoides scalarisOrder: PASSERIFORMES Family: Woodpeckers (Picidae)

Codes: Common Name: LBWO Scientific Name: PICSCA ITIS Taxonomic No.: 178260

Breeding Location:

Shrubs, Dense cactuses

Breeding Type:

Monogamous

Breeding Population:

Egg Color:

White

Number of Eggs:

2 - 7

Incubation Days:

Egg Incubator:

Both sexes

Nest Material:

Bark chips.

Migration:

Nonmigratory

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.

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Ladder-backed Woodpecker: Small woodpecker with black-and-white barred upperparts, shoulders, and wings, underparts are buff-gray with black spots, buff-gray face, red crown, and black forehead, nape, rump, and tail. Outer tail feathers are white barred. Bill, legs and feet are black.

● Song: "pik"

● Foraging & Feeding: Ladder-backed Woodpecker: Eats insects and cactus fruit; forages on tree trunks, limbs, and sometimes on the ground.

● Breeding & 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.

● 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.

Flight Pattern

Series of rapid shallow wing beats alternating with short glides.

Ladder-backed Woodpecker Breeding Male Body Illustration

● Range & 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.

^BreedingMonogamous

^Population

^MigrationNonmigratory

^Weight1.1 Ounces

Underparts

Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Crown

The crown is the top part of the birds head.

Face

The front part of the head consisting of the bill, eyes, cheeks and chin.

Nape

Also called the hindneck or collar, it is the back of the neck where the head joins the body.

Rump

The area between the uppertail coverts and the back of the bird.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Breeding Location:

Breeding Type:

Breeding Population:

Egg Color:

Number of Eggs:

Incubation Days:

Egg Incubator:

Nest Material:

Migration:

Recommended Products:

General

Range and Habitat

Breeding and Nesting

Foraging and Feeding

Readily Eats

Vocalization

Similar Species

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Flight Pattern