Many bird enthusiasts visiting our region this spring will surely have the Arizona Woodpecker on their lists of must-see species. They might not realize that late March through May is the best time to find this Southeast Arizona specialty as it is more vocal leading up to breeding. While most woodpeckers are relatively easy to locate due to their loud calls and drumming, and busy behaviors, Arizonas are notoriously difficult to find during most of the year, especially when nesting. Listen for a loud pik! call and a rattling whinny, both similar to those of Hairy and Ladder-backed Woodpeckers but distinctive with a more hoarse ending.
Arizona Woodpeckers are at home in the pine-oak and sycamore-walnut woodlands of our local Sky Islands in locations such as Bear, Madera, and Cave Creek Canyons. The species ranges from here and extreme southwest New Mexico down the spine of Mexico’s Sierra Madre Occidental to the state of Michoacán—it should really be called the Sierra Madre Woodpecker! Arizona Woodpeckers forage for insects in a pattern similar to Brown Creepers by starting at the base of a tree, then moving up the bark in circles around the tree before flying to the base of the next tree.
The Arizona Woodpecker was previously known as the Strickland’s Woodpecker, a now separate but closely related species only found near Mexico City. The Arizona Woodpecker’s real claim to fame is that it’s not black and white like a lot of woodpeckers in North America—it’s the only brown and white woodpecker in the US and Canada.
Image by Mick Thompson
