Black-backed Woodpecker Identification

The Four Keys to ID

• Size & Shape

  A medium-sized woodpecker with a large head and a long, powerful bill for its size. It has broad wings and a medium-length tail.

  Relative Size

  Larger than a Downy Woodpecker, smaller than a Northern Flicker; about the size of a Hairy Woodpecker.

  robin-sized

  Measurements

  • Both Sexes
  • • Length: 9.1 in (23 cm)
    • Weight: 2.1-3.1 oz (61-88 g)
    • Wingspan: 15.8-16.5 in (40-42 cm)

  © Chris Wood / Macaulay Library

• Color Pattern

  Inky black above and white below with fine black barring on the flanks. In burned habitats, the white is often smudged gray from soot. The head is almost all black with a single white malar (mustache) stripe and a small white mark behind the eye. Males have a yellow crown patch, lacking in adult females but present in juveniles of both sexes.

• Behavior

  Black-backed Woodpeckers forage in dead trees (especially burned trees), usually on trunks. They spend long periods in a single spot compared to most woodpeckers as they excavate to reach large wood-boring beetle larvae deep inside the tree. Their flight is usually direct and swift, with an undulating pattern.
• Habitat

  Boreal and montane coniferous forest, especially recently burned areas (up to about 8 years postfire). In areas with infrequent fires, uses other habitats with many dead trees, including bark beetle outbreaks and wooded bogs.