How to Identify aWhite-headed Woodpecker
Dryobates albolarvatus · 8.3–9.1 in (21–23 cm)
Male vs. female
Male
Solid black body with a clean white head and throat, a white wing patch, and a small red patch on the nape.
Female
Identical but with no red on the head.
Male photo: Channel City Camera Club from Santa Barbara, US / Wikimedia, CC BY 2.0 · Second photo: Channel City Camera Club from Santa Barbara, US / Wikimedia, CC BY 2.0
Field marks
- Entirely white head on a black body
- White patch in the outer wing, visible in flight
- No barring or spotting anywhere
- Red nape spot on males only
Similar species
What it sounds like
A sharp, sputtering "pee-dink" and a rattling call.
Behaviour that gives it away
Pries seeds directly from green pine cones, so it depends on large mature pines that still produce big cone crops.
Habitat & range
Mature ponderosa, sugar and Jeffrey pine forest of the Far West mountains.
When you'll see it
Present all year in western North America.
What it eats
Pine seeds pried from cones, plus insects from bark.
Did you know?
It is the only North American woodpecker with a completely white head, and depends on old pines for the cone seeds it lives on.
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