American Three-toed Woodpecker

Overview
American Three-toed Woodpecker: Medium woodpecker with black-and-white barred upperparts, black head, yellow crown, white eye-line, throat, breast, and belly, and diagonally barred white flanks. Wings are black with white spots; rump is black; tail is black with white outer feathers.

Range and Habitat
American Three-toed Woodpecker: Breeds from northern Alaska, across Canada's boreal regions, through northern Saskatchewan, to north-central Labrador and Newfoundland; also in Eurasia, south of the tree line in Scandinavia and Siberia. Prefers coniferous forests and burnt lands; less frequently found in mixed forests.

The American Three-toed Woodpecker has a large range that reaches across North America. It can be found reaching into the Rock Mountains. The range of this species is estimated to be up to 10 million square kilometers. The American three-toed Woodpecker does tend to prefer conifer forests. The population of this species is fairly large, reaching more than 800,000 individual birds. Although there has been concern that logging as well as other forestry practices would lead to the decline of this bird's population, at this time it still has an evaluation rating of Least Concern.

INTERESTING FACTS
In 2003 the “Three-toed Woodpecker” was split into the American Three-toed and Eurasian Three-toed Woodpecker. Nearly identical in appearance, they differ in voice and mitochondrial DNA sequences. They breed further north than any other American woodpecker. Unlike most woodpeckers, they lack the inner hind toe on each foot. A group of woodpeckers has many collective nouns, including a "descent", "drumming", and "gatling" of woodpeckers.