Sunday 17 July 2011

Picid in Focus: Ladder-backed Woodpecker Picoides scalaris

Ladder-backed Woodpecker is found in the south-west of the USA and Central America.  It is polytypic with 8 subspecies recognised. Desert-dwelling it replaces the closely related Nuttall’s Woodpecker in arid habitats where it forages in trees, bushes, cacti and on the ground for insects. It also eats cactus fruits. Photo of this female (note the black crown, males have red) taken by by Steve Shunk in the USA.

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