White-headed Woodpecker Identification

The Four Keys to ID

• Size & Shape

  A medium-sized woodpecker with a trim body, a short, sharp bill, rather long wings, and long tail.

  Relative Size

  Larger than a Downy Woodpecker, smaller than a Northern Flicker; similar in size to Hairy Woodpecker.

  robin-sized

  Measurements

  • Both Sexes
  • • Length: 8.3-9.1 in (21-23 cm)
    • Weight: 1.9-2.3 oz (55-65 g)

  © Noah Strycker / Macaulay Library

• Color Pattern

  White-headed Woodpeckers are black with a mostly white head and white bases to the outer flight feathers (primary feathers). Males and juveniles have red on the crown.

• Behavior

  Forages by clinging to pine cones and prying out or hammering out seeds, also by flaking bark and probing pine needle clusters for insects, especially during the breeding season. Also digs rows of shallow holes in trees (“sapwells”) in order to eat sap.
• Habitat

  Nests in mountain forests, especially where ponderosa pine and sugar pine are abundant.