Family: Picidae, Woodpeckers view all from this family

Description 9 1/2" (24 cm). Male has black head, breast, and back, white facial stripes, bright red throat, and large white wing and rump patches. Lemon-yellow belly is bordered with black and white barred flanks. Female very different, with brown head, dark brown and white zebra stripes above and on flanks, large dark bib, and smaller, less brilliant yellow area on belly.

Habitat Ponderosa pine forests and open coniferous forests; subalpine forests in Southwest.

Nesting 3-7 white eggs, usually in pine or fir snags; may reuse a nesting tree but it chisels a new hole each time.

Range Breeds from southern British Columbia south to southern California, central Arizona, and central New Mexico. Winters in southern part of breeding range and in Southwest.

Voice   A soft nasal churrr, descending in pitch.

Discussion The distribution of this woodpecker, like that of many birds, is tied to a certain climatic belt. In southern areas the cool climates it likes occur at high elevations, whereas in northern latitudes such conditions occur closer to sea level.