Black-backed Woodpecker

The Black-backed Woodpecker is a boreal specialist known for its close association with recently burned forests, where it feeds on the larvae of wood-boring beetles that colonize dead and dying trees. It has a solid black back and crown, unlike most North American woodpeckers, contrasting with white underparts, black barred flanks, and a black-and-white striped face.

Males show a small yellow patch on the crown, a feature shared with the closely related American Three-toed Woodpecker. Both species have only three toes per foot instead of the four found in most woodpeckers, an adaptation thought to aid climbing and bracing against bark.

Key Field Marks

• Solid glossy black back, unlike the barred backs of most woodpeckers
• White underparts with black barring on the flanks
• Black-and-white striped face
• Males have a yellow crown patch; females have an all-black crown
• Three toes on each foot rather than four

Similar Species

• American Three-toed Woodpecker has a barred, not solid black, back and generally more extensive white barring, plus a range that overlaps but extends further into high-elevation western forests.
• Hairy Woodpecker shows a white back stripe and lacks the yellow crown patch.

Habitat

This species is strongly tied to recently burned coniferous forest, especially within the first few years after fire, as well as forests killed by bark beetle outbreaks; it also occurs at lower densities in mature spruce and pine forests.

Range

Black-backed Woodpeckers are found across the boreal forest of Canada and Alaska, extending south through the mountains of the western United States and into the Great Lakes region and northern New England.

Migration

The species is largely non-migratory but shows irruptive movements, dispersing widely to find newly burned habitat, sometimes appearing far outside its typical range following major wildfires.

Behavior

Black-backed Woodpeckers forage by flaking off large sheets of bark from dead and dying trees to expose beetle larvae tunneling beneath, a technique that leaves distinctive patches of bare wood.

Voice

Calls include a sharp, single chik note and a rattling call; drumming is a fast, even roll.

Feeding

The diet consists almost entirely of wood-boring beetle larvae, particularly those of longhorn and bark beetles, found in fire-killed or beetle-killed trees.

Nesting

Pairs excavate a nest cavity low in a dead tree, often within burned forest; both parents incubate the 3-4 white eggs and feed the nestlings.