While most of its cousins are dressed in traditional black, white, and red patterns, this bird looks like it wandered through a painter’s studio and brushed against every palette. It’s a medium-sized bird, but its colors are what truly stop you in your tracks. It sports a dark, iridescent greenish-black back that shimmers like an oil slick, a silvery-gray collar around its neck, and a soft, rosy-pink belly. To top it all off, it has a dark red face that makes it look like it’s wearing a velvet mask. It’s so unusually colored that when it was first discovered during the Lewis and Clark Expedition, explorers weren’t even sure if it was actually a woodpecker.
What makes the Lewis’s woodpecker truly stand out isn’t just its outfit, but its “career choice.” Most woodpeckers spend their lives vertically, clinging to tree trunks and hammering into wood to find grubs. The Lewis’s woodpecker, however, behaves much more like a flycatcher or a swallow. During the summer, you’ll often see it perched on a high, bare branch, waiting for a tasty insect to fly by. Then, it will suddenly launch into the air, perform a graceful acrobatic maneuver to snatch the bug mid-flight, and return to its perch. Because of this specialized lifestyle, it doesn’t have the same heavy-duty drilling equipment as its relatives; its beak is smaller and less reinforced, so it rarely hammers into hardwood to feed.
Even though it loves a good flying snack, the Lewis’s woodpecker is a master of preparation for the winter months. It is one of the few woodpeckers that store food on a massive scale. It will collect acorns and other nuts, but instead of just burying them in the ground like a squirrel, it acts like a tiny carpenter. It finds existing cracks and crevices in tree bark and meticulously wedges the nuts into them. It will even use its beak to widen a crack just enough to make a nut fit perfectly. These “pantry” trees are vital for their survival during cold spells, and they will fiercely guard their stash against any hungry intruders who try to steal their hard-earned groceries.
Distribution
Canada
Mexico
United StatesAnything we've missed?
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Terrestrial / Aquatic
Altricial / Precocial
Polygamous / Monogamous
Dimorphic (size) / Monomorphic
Active: Diurnal / Nocturnal
Social behavior: Solitary / Pack / Herd
Diet: Carnivore / Herbivore / Omnivore / Piscivorous / Insectivore
Migratory: Yes / No
Domesticated: Yes / No
Dangerous: Yes / No
