Black-backed Woodpeckers
Member of the Picidae Family: Woodpeckers ... Sapsuckers ... FlickersBlack-backed Woodpeckers (Picoides arcticus) are native to the boreal forest areas across Canada, Alaska and the north-western United States.
This bird is normally a permanent resident, but may move around to find better feeding.
Description:
This woodpecker is medium-sized, averaging 23 cm in length.
Adults are black on the head, back, wings and rump. They are white from the throat to the belly; the flanks are white with black bars. The adult male has a yellow cap. Their tail is black with white outer feathers.
Unlike all other woodpeckers except the related and similar American and Eurasian Three-toed Woodpeckers, this species has three-toed feet
Breeding / Nesting:
Nesting activities usually start in April and May.
A fresh nest is drilled into the sapwood of a dead tree or a dead part of a tree. The pair usually excavate a new nest each year, although abandoned nests are used by other species of bird to nest in.
The female lays 3 or 4 eggs, and incubation duties are shared between both parents, although the male alone incubates during the night. Upon hatching the altricial chicks are brooded until the nestling phase. Both parents feed the chicks, which take about 24 days to fledge.
Diet:
Their primary diet consists of insects, spiders, as well as nuts and fruits. These birds remove bark from trees in search of insects or pick them up from the bark. Most food is obtained by pecking, a smaller proportion is obtained by gleaning off branches.
This woodpecker is a burnt-forest specialist, feeding on the outbreaks of wood-boring beetles that feed on recently burnt trees.
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