Black-backed Woodpecker
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[Photo] Black-backed Woodpecker Picoides arcticus, offset reproduction of watercolor. Source: Birds of New York (New York State Museum. Memoir 12), Albany: University of the State of New York. Plates by Fuertes later reproduced in Birds of America (1917) by Thomas Gilbert Pearson (1873-1943) et al. Date 1910-1914. Author Elon Howard Eaton (1866-1935, author), Louis Agassiz Fuertes (artist, 1874-1927)

The Black-backed Woodpecker (Picoides arcticus) is a medium-sized woodpecker.

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. Their tail is black with white outer feathers. Like the similar American Three-toed Woodpecker, this bird also has three-toed feet. The adult male has a yellow cap.

Their breeding habitat is boreal forest across Canada, Alaska and the north-western United States. They nest in a large cavity in a dead tree or a dead part of a tree. The pair usually excavate a new nest each year. The female lays 3 or 4 eggs.

This bird is normally a permanent resident, but may move around to find better feeding.

These birds remove bark from trees in search of insects or pick them up from the bark. They mainly eat insects, spiders, also fruit and nuts.

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