Timiskaming Birds Forum

 This is probably one of the pair I saw last fall just north of Swastika. Saw them both today at the same spot. Baited them with suet.

 Nice shot. I've never seen one yet. One of these days...

Fantastic photo Mike. I've always found these guys to be very skittish, moving around to the far side of the tree if you show any interest. Did this bird seem to tolerate your presence more after your free suet gift?

The pair were about 75m from the suet but it had a few deep woodpecker beak holes in it so it might have helped keep them close enough for me to hear a faint pecking from my watch. Luckily, the male was working on a tree on the edge of a clearing so I just snowshoed up to him while he pecked on the far side of the tree and waited for him to move around to my side. Didn't sit still for more than a couple of seconds. Got quite close to him again when he flew off into thicker cover but couldn't get a clear shot. Heard the mrs calling several times from a few metres deeper in the bush - the sound of the call froze him until she stopped calling - too bad there was so much brush between us. Ann and I did hear some pecking when we were setting the bait so I don't doubt they are sticking very close to the area of the bait which is where I saw them last fall.

It is a nice photo....but seeing it raises a question for me.  In the photo, I see no evidence of a black back, although maybe this is due to the angle?  I wouldn't want to step on any (3) toes, but is it possible that this is a case of mistaken identity?  I would be inclined to call this a Three-toed Woodpecker, unless I'm missing something.  In any case, great shot and great bird.

I too did an initial double-take on this photo. Note, though, that the Three-toed has another white line from the eye to the back of the head, and the outer tail feathers are black-spotted.  The patterning on the back certainly seems inconsistent, but all things considered, it's more like a Black-backed than a Three-toed to me. Remember that this is a time of year for plumage change in many species.

Sorry folks, I can see why you might have questions about the previous photo. The angle is not right for a good look at the back. I chose that shot because it was the prettiest and it showed the yellow head patch. Here is another shot showing the back and the fluffed out sides. Oh ye of little faith!

Thanks, Mike and Mike.  Actually, I had little doubt that the bird was correctly identified, as I have great faith in you both.  I was merely commenting on the photo itself... and trying to play devil's advocate to generate a little discussion.  Both photos are excellent (although I prefer the second for identification purposes).  I've never noticed the "fluffy" sides on birds I've seen...is this normal, or is it a courtship display?

Black-backed woodpecker is three-toed too...

What's in a name? 

Yes, the Black-backed is also three-toed, and in fact the Black-backed used to be officially named "Black-backed Three-toed Woodpecker", but that was deemed unnecessarily cumbersome and was later shortened. The other three-toed woodpecker used to be called the "Northern Three-toed Woodpecker", but when the "Three-toed" part of the Black-backed was dropped, the Northern Three-toed became known officially as just "Three-toed Woodpecker". (Why it wasn't called Northern Woodpecker was presumably because there are other northern woodpeckers, but then, as Joe points out, there are also other three-toed woodpeckers, so they should probably have come up with some entirely new name.)  Then in 2003, the "Three-toed Woodpecker" was split from the Eurasian race into two separate species, whence our species became officially known as the American Three-toed Woodpecker.  Confused yet?

In french, Pic tridactyle (three-toed) changed a couple of years ago to Pic à dos rayé (striped-back).

That makes a great deal of sense - we should do the same thing with the English name.