Nuttall's woodpecker Picoides nuttallii

Identification Tips:

• Length: 6.75 inches
• Small black and white woodpecker
• Black head
• White postocular stripe curves around to almost meet white moustachial stripe and appears as a pale border to dark auriculars
• White throat, breast, and belly
• Small amounts of black spotting on sides of breast and flanks
• Black back barred with white does not extend to black nape
• Black wings with white spotting on coverts and flight feathers
• Black rump
• Black tail with white outer tail feathers barred with black

Adult male:

• Red crown
• Extensive black forehead

Adult female:

• Black forehead, crown, cap, and hindneck

Similar species:

Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers have solid white backs and lack the spotting on the breast and flanks. Nuttall's Woodpecker has black auriculars bordered incompletely by white, a cleaner white breast, a different amount of red on the head of the male, less barring on the back, and less spotting on the flanks in comparison to the Ladder-backed Woodpecker. However, hybrids are known between these two species so identify each with caution in the narrow zone of overlap.

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