Red-cockaded woodpecker Picoides borealis

Identification Tips:

• Length: 7.25 inches
• Small, black and white woodpecker
• Black cap and nape
• White postocular spot
• Dark moustachial stripe extends down side of neck
• Bold white cheeks and auriculars
• White underparts, streaked sparsely with black about sides of breast and flanks
• Black back barred with white
• Black wings spotted with white in wing coverts and flight feathers
• Black rump
• Black tail has white outer tail feathers barred with black

Adult male:

• Small red spot at rear margin of white face is rarely visible

Similar species:

Easily distinguished from all other small black and white woodpeckers by entirely white cheek and auriculars. Note also the barred back and streaked sides, which distinguish it from Downy and Hairy Woodpecker, the only similar species likely to overlap in range and habitat.

Length and wingspan from: Robbins, C.S., Bruun, B., Zim, H.S., (1966). Birds of North America. New York: Western Publishing Company, Inc.