The Ladder Backed Woodpecker

Description

This type of woodpecker is a smaller species (6.25-7 inches or 16-18 cm in length), black and white striped on its back and wings with a pale underbelly with darker spots on the sides. Males have a red head spot, flecked with black or black and white. Females are usually substantially smaller and without red markings. There are numerous recognized regional variations in coloring and size resulting in eight accepted subspecies.

Territory

The Ladder-backed woodpecker is a desert bird, found throughout the southwestern states of the United States through Mexico and into Central America. They are well adapted to very dry climates and are quite comfortable in open to semi-open woodland or brushy desert. As expected with these specialized adaptations, the Ladder-backed is a non-migratory woodpecker. In Mexico the Ladder-backed is sometimes found in oak forests, and in the farthest southern part of their range they are found frequently in pine forests at higher elevations.

Behavior

There isn’t a great deal of research on Ladder-backed woodpeckers habits. They are insect-feeders, but they will still feed on seeds and cactus fruit if the opportunity presents itself. They are often seen in pairs but can also form into small family groups of up to four.

This type of woodpecker will nest in anything large enough to hold the nest hole, including cacti, yuccas, agave stalks, dead trees, poles or posts. Nests will typically be lower to the ground than with some other tree-dwelling varieties, just 2-4.5 meters or 6-15 feet. Both males and females will participate in the excavation and feed the young, usually 3-5 but anywhere between 2 and 7. It isn’t know how long it takes to excavate the nest or how long the fledglings stay in the nest after hatching.

Quick facts

The foraging behavior of the Ladder-backed woodpecker is unusually acrobatic. Their probing and gleaning includes fluttering, turns, twists, and sideways hops.

The males of this type of woodpecker are clearly in charge. The foraging habits are noticeably different between males and females and study of these birds suggests that the males enforce this pattern through aggressive behaviors against females in their own family groups . Males will hunt on trunks and branches of deciduous trees, yucca, bushes, mesquite, and cacti while the females will forage more frequently in little twigs and smaller branches.

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