Species: Picoides dorsalis

American Three-toed Woodpecker

Species

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Encyclopedia of Puget Sound

EGGS: lie on beds of chips within the nest and are ovate, pure white, and only moderately glossy (Gabrielson and Lincoln 1959).

Classification

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Craniata

Class

Aves

Order

Piciformes

Family

Picidae

Genus

Picoides

NatureServe

Source:
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.106444

Classification

Other Global Common Names

Three-toed Woodpecker - pic à dos rayé

Informal Taxonomy

Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Other Birds

Formal Taxonomy

Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Piciformes - Picidae - Picoides - (Linnaeus) [Eurasian Three-toed Woodpecker], but separated because of significant differences in mitochondrial DNA sequences (Zink et al. 1995, 2002) and (Winkler and Short 1978, Short 1982) (AOU 2003).

Ecology and Life History

EGGS: lie on beds of chips within the nest and are ovate, pure white, and only moderately glossy (Gabrielson and Lincoln 1959).

Short General Description

A quiet, 22-cm-long woodpecker of boreal forests.

Migration

true - false - false

Non-migrant

true

Locally Migrant

false

Food Comments

Eats mainly insects obtained by chipping off pieces of tree bark. Seventy-five percent of its diet consists of wood-boring beetles and caterpillars that attack dead or dying conifers (Oatman 1985). It eats a few ants, weevils, spiders, berries, acorns, cambium, and sap (Terres 1980). This woodpecker taps softly when feeding, and generally uses an angular bill motion to strip or flake bark pieces from conifers. In Vermont, birds have been seen tapping straight into the wood (Oatman 1985). Forages most often on dead (including fire-killed) trees.

Reproduction Comments

Nesting occurs in May and June, young can be found in the nest into July (Oatman 1985, Brewer et al. 1991, Adams pers. comm.). In Montana, nest building is observed in June, with the young out of the nest by early August (Davis 1961). One broods per year. Clutch size usually is four. Incubation, by both sexes, lasts 12-14 days. During incubation birds are rather quiet. Male roosts nightly in nest throughout incubation (Ehrlich et al. 1988). Young are tended by both parents, fledge in 22-26 days, remain with adults for at least a month after fledging. Nesting may be somewhat colonial where food is abundant. Pair bond sometimes lasts multiple years. Nesting times are very similar for the three-toed and black-backed woodpeckers.

Ecology Comments

IRRUPTIONS: Periodic irruptions occur, presumably due to a failure of the food supply. Sympatric with Black-backed Woodpecker (PICOIDES ARCTICUS) but irruptions do not coincide possibly due to difference in dependence on live and dead wood insects (Yunick 1985). Less likely to wander in the winter than the black-backed woodpecker. Interspecific competition may be reduced by taking advantage of different foraging heights and having differently sized bills (Peterson 1988). <br><br>Forest fire may lead to local increases in woodpecker populations 3-5 years after a fire (Spahr et al. 1991). In the northeastern U.S., territory size of 74 acres and density of 3 pairs per 247 acres (with increases after fire) have been recorded.

Length

Weight

Conservation Status

NatureServe Global Status Rank

Global Status Last Reviewed

2003-09-30

Global Status Last Changed

1996-12-02

Other Status

LC - Least concern

Distribution

Conservation Status Map

Global Range

H - >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles) - H - RESIDENT: often locally, in North America from northern Alaska across Canada through northern Saskatchewan to north-central Labrador and Newfoundland, south to western and southern Alaska, southern Oregon, eastern Nevada, central Arizona, southern New Mexico, and the Black Hills of South Dakota; and to central Alberta and Saskatchewan, southern Manitoba, northeastern Minnesota, northern Michigan, central Ontario, northern New England, southern Quebec and Nova Scotia.

Global Range Code

Global Range Description

>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)

ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.106444