American three-toed woodpecker: description, habitat

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:54

The three-toed woodpecker is a rather rare bird. Its inconspicuous nature, relatively small numbers, and erratic behavior make it difficult to track the population. In addition, the number of these birds in North America is declining, which is most likely due to the fire fighting methods used and logging, which does not leave sick and dying trees, which are the main food source for three-toed woodpeckers.

Appearance

The three-toed woodpecker has a black and white back and sides, black wings, a white breast, a black tail with white outer feathers, and a black head with white stripes. Many mottled, males have a yellow spot on their heads. Therefore, this inhabitant of the forest has a second name - the yellow-headed woodpecker. As the name suggests, it has three instead of four toes on each paw.

Where the woodpecker lives

As a rule, these birds live in mature or old coniferous forests, especially in spruces, larches, firs and pines. Sometimes they live in mixed forests where aspen or willow grow. They like places with a lot of dead trees, such as after a fire or flood, and areas infested with pests.

In North America, three-toed woodpeckers climb further north than any other species. Although they generally prefer denser forests, their range and habitat overlap with those of black-backed woodpeckers.

Often quiet and inconspicuous, this bird can sit motionless for several minutes behind a tree trunk. In some places, the three-toed woodpecker is very effective in fighting the spruce bark beetle, the main pest of the forest.

Its subspecies live in Northern Europe (from Scandinavia to northwestern Asia) and the central and southern parts of the Eurasian continent (from the Alps to Japan).

Behavior

Three-toed woodpeckers are not afraid of people, but they are quiet and inconspicuous and hard to see. They often perch on tree trunks, usually alone, although pairs may forage together. They tend to search for food higher up the trunk than black-backed woodpeckers, but they do the same by stripping the bark from dead and dying trees to get food. This behavior often reveals their presence in the area.

Nesting

The same couples can stay together for more than one season. The nesting site is a hollow in a tree, usually a dead conifer, sometimes an aspen, another live tree, or a pole. The hollow, which both birds in pairs prepare every year, is located asusually at a height of one and a half to four and a half meters, sometimes higher. Adult birds are often quite careless near their nest, ignoring possible observers.

The nest is lined with chips left after hollowing out the hollow. Three-toed woodpeckers do not add any other bedding there. Both male and female usually incubate 4 eggs for 12-14 days. The chicks appear one by one. This process can take four days. Both parents feed the chicks, which leave the nest after 22–26 days. The male and female can split the brood, each of them takes half of the chicks and takes care of them for another 4-8 weeks. As a rule, the three-toed woodpecker has only one brood during the year.

Diet

The larvae of the bark beetle, especially the spruce beetle, are the most common prey of the American three-toed woodpecker. They also eat other insects and a small amount of fruits.

Migration status

Despite the fact that three-toed woodpeckers live in many areas and do not have regular latitudinal migration, they are still nomadic to a certain extent and can move to areas that have suffered from fires or pest infestations. It should also be noted that these birds are less sensitive to fires than black-backed woodpeckers. Ornithologists also note individual cases when these birds fly to low-lying areas in winter.