Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Three-toed Woodpecker

Three-toed Woodpecker
 The three-toed woodpeckers range further north then any other woodpecker in the world. At one time there was only one species of three-toed woodpecker but thanks to DNA testing they were split into the American three-toed woodpecker and the Eurasian three-toed woodpecker. The Eurasian three-toed is found across Northern Europe and Russia. The American three-toed is found in Alaska, Canada and parts of the northern United States. These photos were taken in the Sax Zim Bog in northern Minnesota.
Three-toed Woodpecker
 Three-toed woodpeckers are usually permanent residents with in their range, however some three-toed may migrate during the winter if food is scarce. They eat the larvae of different wood-boring and bark beetles. Unlike many other woodpeckers they do not usually bore into the wood in search of prey. Instead they use their beak to pry and scrape the outside bark from the tree leaving the insects beneath exposed. They then use their long and agile tongue to suck up the larvae. Three-toed woodpeckers can be confused with the black-back woodpecker, another three toed woodpecker found with in much of the same range, however the black-back has a completely black back where the three-toed has white speckles on black.




11 comments:

KristiBowmanDesign said...

What a beauty!!!

Dave said...

Beautiful bird - and probably my first image seen of this species

Thanks for this post
Dave

Roger Owen Green said...

Nice looking bird!
ROG, ABC Wednesday team

Linda said...

What a cute little woodpecker, haven't seen any of those around where I live.

J.Rylie.C said...

Beautiful bird.

Tug of War

mick said...

Great photos of the Woodpecker.

Andrea @ From The Sol said...

This is a Woodpecker I haven't heard of before ... very cute or should I say pretty. Good information on it's eating habits ... thank you!

Andrea @ From the Sol

Sallie (FullTime-Life.com said...

A beautiful bird and a first (even virtually) for me! Thanks.

Ann said...

Never heard of this one, how very interesting.
Ann

Springman said...

Excellent pictures to illustrate your interesting text. Great stuff!

Black Jack's Carol said...

I hope I will see one some day, but in the mean time, I am very THANKFUL for your post! Wonderful photos!