Lewis's Woodpecker
Order: Piciformes
Family: Picidae
Genus: Melanerpes
Species: lewis
**Audio Comign Soon**
Description
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Length: 10.75"
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Wing span: 21"
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Weight: 4 oz (115 grams)
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Larger woodpecker with greenish black head, wings, tail & back
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Grayish-white collar and chest with a dark red face
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Belly is pinkish ir salmon red in color
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The wings and tail are all dark without white spots or patches
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Spots and streaks of black along sides and under tail and the outer tail feathers are white with black spots
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Males and females look alike
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Juveniles resemble adults
Factoids:
- A dark woodpecker of open woodlands, the Lewis's Woodpecker is found westward of the Great Plains. Its slow, deliberate flight reminds one of a crow or jay more than a woodpeck
- The Lewis's Woodpecker seldom, if ever, excavates wood for boring insects. Instead, it gleans insects from the tree surface, or most commonly, flycatches. It spends long periods of time watching for flying insects from the top of a pole or dead tree, and then flies out to catch them in fligh
All photographs and audio clips are ©Jamie Mullin 2006
Sources: Cornell Lab of Ornithology & The Sibley Guide to Birds.
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