Black-backed Woodpeckers form monogamous pairs and appear to stay together for more than one season. Its range covers Alaska and Canada to the northernmost United States and to the mountains of California in the West. Tree height ranges from an average of 32.2 feet (9.8 m) at 4 nests in Newfoundland to 77.5 feet (22.7 m) at 11 nests in Montana . The Black-backed Woodpecker has a large range of 6,770,000 square kilometers. Sometimes these birds will move out of forests and to lower elevations to dodge the cold. Distinctive habit of flaking bark off trees in search of grubs; behavior shared only with American Three-toed Woodpecker. The Black-backed Woodpecker has a large range of 6,770,000 square kilometers. and the National Audubon Society . The Black-backed Woodpecker population seems more or less stable. The black-backed woodpecker has a fairly continuous distribution, occurring within the range of coniferous forests across northern North America. It breeds across central Canada, with populations as far north as west-central Alaska and west-central Northwest Territories. Black-backed woodpeckers also frequent lowlands in north and mountains in West. Generally uncommon, but not so quiet or inconspicuous as the American Three-toed Woodpecker. Back entirely glossy black with faint white markings only on flight feathers. This includes spruce and other coniferous forests in Alaska, Canada, and parts of the northern and western United States. Despite its widespread breeding distribution, this woodpecker is confined mostly to stands populated by wood-boring insects in coniferous forests. The specific epithet arcticus is the Latin word for "northern" or "arctic". The Black-backed Woodpecker (Picoides arcticus) is strongly associated with recently burned forests in the western United States, where it is used as an indicator species for the effects of post-fire forest management. Black-backed Woodpecker The North American woodpecker is a sexually dimorphic species. Dark woodpecker, inconspicuous and uncommon. Primarily foraging on burnt-forests, the woodpecker prefers open woodlands for nesting and thriving. Taxonomy. Where the two species are found together, the Black-backed usually dominates, perhaps driving the Three-toed away from choice feeding or nesting areas. A curious aspect of the Black-backed Woodpecker’s distribution is its absence from the central and southern Rocky Mountains, even though it occurs throughout the Sierra Nevada of central California. Diameter at breast height ranges from 9 to 20 inches (23-51cm). Both members of the pair excavate a new nest cavity every year. During the nonbreeding season, Black-backed Woodpeckers occasionally move to areas south of the regular breeding range. The nest is located in a dead or dying conifer tree, on a branch, or on a utility pole, usually near the edge of a forest opening.
The outlined areas represent approximate current range for each season. It is an inky black bird with a sharp white stripe on its black face, fine black barring on the flanks, and, in males, a yellow crown patch. Black-backed Woodpecker The darker the color, the more favorable the climate conditions are for survival. Nest tree size varies throughout the range of the black-backed woodpecker. Found in coniferous forests, often in recently burned areas or bogs with many dead trees. Between 2011 and 2018, we located and monitored 118 Black-backed Woodpecker nests in burned forests of northern California. The Black-backed Woodpecker breeds in boreal forests from central Alaska and northern Canada, south to New England, the north-central U.S., and montane areas of the northwestern U.S. Nearly synonymous with burned forests over much of its range, the Black-backed Woodpecker specializes on eating big, juicy wood-boring beetle larvae. You can most commonly see them in April and May when they are out seeking a new nest, but they can otherwise be found year-round. He coined the binomial name Picus arcticus. The Black-backed Woodpecker was identified as “climate threatened” by Langham et al. The Black-Backed Woodpecker is nonmigratory, though it has been known to move in the event winter gets too cold.