Ladder-backed woodpecker
{{short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Ladder-back Woodpecker on Cactus.jpg
| image_caption = Adult male outside cavity
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = {{Cite journal | author = BirdLife International | title = Dryobates scalaris | journal = The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species | volume = 2017 | page = e.T22681152A118587827 | publisher = IUCN | date = 2017 | url = http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22681152/0 | doi = 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T22681152A118587827.en | access-date = 14 January 2018| doi-access = free }}
| genus = Dryobates
| species = scalaris
| authority = (Wagler, 1829)
| synonyms = Dendrocopos scalaris
Picoides scalaris
| range_map = Dryobates scalaris distr.png
}}
The ladder-backed woodpecker (Dryobates scalaris) is a North American woodpecker.
Description
File:Picoides scalaris nuttalliiAQBIP03CA.jpg]]
The ladder-backed woodpecker is a small woodpecker about 16.5 to 19 cm (6½ to 7½ inches) in length. It is primarily colored black and white, with a barred pattern on its back and wings resembling the rungs of a ladder. Its rump is speckled with black, as are its cream-colored underparts on the breast and flanks. Southern populations have duskier buff breasts and distinctly smaller bills. Adult males have a red crown patch that is smaller in immatures and lacking in adult females. The ladder-backed woodpecker is very similar in appearance to Nuttall's woodpecker, but has much less black on its head and upper back, and the range of the two species only intersects a minimal amount in southern California and northern Baja California. Hybrids are known.
File: Ladder-backed_Woodpecker_Tex.jpg
Ladder-backed woodpeckers nest in cavities excavated from tree trunks, or in more arid environments a large cactus will do. The female lays between 2 and 7 eggs, which are plain white. The eggs are incubated by both sexes, but the nesting period and other details are unknown.
Like most other woodpeckers the ladder-backed woodpecker bores into tree-trunks with its chisel-like bill to hunt for insects and their larva, but it also feeds on fruit produced by cacti.
File:Dryobates scalaris-male juvenile.jpg|Juvenile male showing ladder back
Range and habitat
The ladder-backed woodpecker is fairly common in dry brushy areas and thickets and has a rather large range. The species can be found year-round over the southwestern United States (north to extreme southern Nevada and extreme southeastern Colorado), most of Mexico, and locally in Central America as far south as Nicaragua.
References
{{Reflist}}
- {{cite book | last=Howell | first=Steve N. G. | author2=Sophie Webb | title=A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=1995 | isbn=0-19-854012-4 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/guidetobirdsofme0000howe }}
External links
{{Commons|Picoides scalaris}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070311101346/http://ca.geocities.com/woodpeck2006/ladder.html Ladder-backed woodpecker], a bibliographic resource
{{Taxonbar|from=Q27074907}}
Category:Native birds of the Southwestern United States