I had never seen one of these birds before. In fact, I'd never even heard of them! They are a strictly western bird ranging from Canada into Mexico at the farthest ends of their range. With our common, Northern Flicker they share the feeding habit of hawking insects from the air while in flight. They are not endangered, but their habitats are dwindling because the areas they inhabit are being broken up by development into islands rather than a long, north to south corridors. They are quite large, about 10 inches long or tall, if you will. This one provided an effective diversion for me as I waited for my son and husband to leap to their possible deaths.
If you want to go really nuts and look up more information about them, try these links. Thanks to Wikipedia for the information I provided above.
- Lewis's Woodpecker - Melanerpes lewis - USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
- Lewis's Woodpecker Species Account - Cornell Lab of Ornithology
- Lewis's Woodpecker Information - South Dakota Birds and Birding
- Photo-Medium Res; Article w/species analysis dwrcdc.nr.utah.gov–Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
- Photo-High Res; Article pbase
Wow! I'm blown away. I've never heard of this bird and I can't imagine how he got here. Very cool!
ReplyDeleteOK, Colorado. I was going to say that I have never seen or heard of this bird here in the east. Great catch.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ed and Robin! And more to come...........!
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