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.