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BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary


Picoides dorsalis
American Three-toed Woodpecker

 
Scientific Name: Picoides dorsalis Baird, 1858
Scientific Name Synonyms: Picoides tridactylus
English Name: American Three-toed Woodpecker
English Name Synonyms: Three-toed Woodpecker
 
Classification / Taxonomy
Scientific Name - Concept Reference: American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1957. The AOU check-list of North American birds, 5th ed. Port City Press, Inc., Baltimore, MD. 691 pp.
Classification Level: Species
Taxonomy Comments: See Global Taxonomy Comment.

SName changed from P. tridactylus to P. dorsalis to align with NatureServe (Feb 22, 2005 - DW).
Species Group: Vertebrate Animal
Species Code: B-ATTW
Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family
Animalia Craniata Aves Piciformes Picidae
   
Conservation Status / Legal Designation
Global Status: G5 (Apr 2016)
Provincial Status: S5 (Mar 2015)
BC List: Yellow
Provincial FRPA list:   
Provincial Wildlife Act:
COSEWIC Status:
SARA Schedule:
General Status Canada: 4 - Secure (2005)
Migratory Bird Convention Act: Y
   
Ecology & Life History
General Description: PLUMAGE: Adult male has a yellow crown, black forehead that is more or less spotted with dull white, black back and sides that are usually broadly barred with white, secondary feathers that are distinctly spotted with white and quills with white spots (Gabrielson and Lincoln 1959). The adult female is similar to the adult male but without any yellow on the head. The female's forehead and crown is usually spotted or streaked with grayish white but sometimes is completely black. Immatures are similar to adults. Young woodpeckers are naked and blind when hatched (Gabrielson and Lincoln 1959). CALLING BEHAVIOR: make tapping sounds while feeding. In the spring and summer you can hear courtship drumming. The call is a rattle similar to that of the hairy woodpecker (PICOIDES VILLOSUS) (Adams, pers. comm.) although the intervals between taps are longer at the beginning of calling episodes. The voice consists of a squeal resembling that of a small mammal and a short quap or quip (Gabrielson and Lincoln 1959).

NEST: Nesting habitat includes coniferous forests (with spruce, larch, or fir trees), or logged areas and swamps. Cavity nest dug by both sexes and are placed 1.5 to 15 m (5 to 50 feet) high in a stump or other dead or dying trees often near water. The entrance is about 4 centimeters by 5 centimeters (1 3/4 by 2 inches), and the cavity is about 25 to 38 centimeters (10 to 15 inches) deep (Oatman 1985).

EGGS: lie on beds of chips within the nest and are ovate, pure white, and only moderately glossy (Gabrielson and Lincoln 1959).
Global Reproduction Comments: Nesting occurs in May and June, young can be found in the nest into July (Oatman 1985, Brewer et al. 1991, Adams pers. comm.). In Montana, nest building is observed in June, with the young out of the nest by early August (Davis 1961). One broods per year. Clutch size usually is four. Incubation, by both sexes, lasts 12-14 days. During incubation birds are rather quiet. Male roosts nightly in nest throughout incubation (Ehrlich et al. 1988). Young are tended by both parents, fledge in 22-26 days, remain with adults for at least a month after fledging. Nesting may be somewhat colonial where food is abundant. Pair bond sometimes lasts multiple years. Nesting times are very similar for the three-toed and black-backed woodpeckers.
Global Ecology Comments: IRRUPTIONS: Periodic irruptions occur, presumably due to a failure of the food supply. Sympatric with Black-backed Woodpecker (PICOIDES ARCTICUS) but irruptions do not coincide possibly due to difference in dependence on live and dead wood insects (Yunick 1985). Less likely to wander in the winter than the black-backed woodpecker. Interspecific competition may be reduced by taking advantage of different foraging heights and having differently sized bills (Peterson 1988).

Forest fire may lead to local increases in woodpecker populations 3-5 years after a fire (Spahr et al. 1991). In the northeastern U.S., territory size of 74 acres and density of 3 pairs per 247 acres (with increases after fire) have been recorded.
Migration Characteristics:
(Global / Provincial)		 
    Nonmigrant:
    Local Migrant:
    Distant Migrant:
    Within Borders Migrant: 		Y /
N /
N /
na /
Habitats:
(Type / Subtype / Dependence) 		Alpine/Tundra / Krummholtz / Unknown
Forest / Conifer Forest - Dry / Unknown
Forest / Conifer Forest - Mesic (average) / Unknown
Forest / Conifer Forest - Moist/wet / Unknown
Forest / Deciduous/Broadleaf Forest / Unknown
Forest / Mixed Forest (deciduous/coniferous mix) / Unknown
Riparian / Riparian Forest / Unknown
Global Habitat Comments: Coniferous forest (primarily spruce), less frequently mixed forest. Optimal habitat includes areas with 42-52 snags per 100 acres, with snags occurring in clumps, measuring 12-16 inches dbh and 20-40 feet tall, and mostly with bark still present (Spahr et al. 1991). Cavity nests placed in dead (occasionally live) tree (commonly conifer or aspen). Sometimes nests in utility poles.

Prefers coniferous forest, primarily spruce and balsam fir in the East. It inhabits areas where dead timber remains after fires or logging. It is found less frequently in mixed forest, and occasionally in willow thickets along streams. Also found in high elevation aspen groves, bogs, and swamps.

In the west, they occur in dense coniferous forests, and are associated with subalpine fir and Engelmann spruce at higher elevations; they occur mainly in lodgepole pine forests or in mixed-conifer forests with a lodgepole component at lower elevations (Short 1982). Seem to prefer disturbed coniferous forests with trees that exhibit thin, flaky bark such as spruce and lodgepole pine.
Food Habits: Invertivore: Adult, Immature
Global Food Habits Comments: Eats mainly insects obtained by chipping off pieces of tree bark. Seventy-five percent of its diet consists of wood-boring beetles and caterpillars that attack dead or dying conifers (Oatman 1985). It eats a few ants, weevils, spiders, berries, acorns, cambium, and sap (Terres 1980). This woodpecker taps softly when feeding, and generally uses an angular bill motion to strip or flake bark pieces from conifers. In Vermont, birds have been seen tapping straight into the wood (Oatman 1985). Forages most often on dead (including fire-killed) trees.
Global Phenology: Diurnal: Adult, Immature
Global Phenology Comments: Diurnal.
Provincial Phenology:
(1st half of month/
2nd half of month)
Colonial Breeder: N
Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g): 22/ / 70
Elevation (m) (min / max): Global: 
Provincial: 
   
 
Distribution
Endemic: N
Global Range Comment: RESIDENT: often locally, in North America from northern Alaska across Canada through northern Saskatchewan to north-central Labrador and Newfoundland, south to western and southern Alaska, southern Oregon, eastern Nevada, central Arizona, southern New Mexico, and the Black Hills of South Dakota; and to central Alberta and Saskatchewan, southern Manitoba, northeastern Minnesota, northern Michigan, central Ontario, northern New England, southern Quebec and Nova Scotia.
 
Authors / Contributors
Global Information Author: Hammerson, G.
Last Updated: May 13, 1996
Provincial Information Author:
Last Updated:
   
References and Related Literature
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp.
Bent, A.C. 1939d. Life histories of North American woodpeckers, U.S. Nat'l. Mus. Bull. 174. Washington, D.C.
Bock, C.E., and J.H. Bock. 1974. On the geographical ecology and evolution of the three-toed woodpeckers, PICOIDES TRIDACTYLUS and P. ARCTICUS. American Midland Naturalist 92(2):397-405.
Campbell, R.W., N.K. Dawe, I. McTaggart-Cowan, et al. 1990b. The Birds of British Columbia Vol. 2: Nonpasserines: Diurnal Birds of Prey through Woodpeckers. Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, BC.
Ehrlich, P. R., D. S. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1988. The birder's handbook: a field guide to the natural history of North American birds. Simon and Shuster, Inc., New York. xxx + 785 pp.
Harrison, C. 1978. A Field Guide to the Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of North American Birds. Collins, Cleveland, Ohio.
Harrison, H. H. 1979. A field guide to western birds' nests. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. 279 pp.
National Geographic Society (NGS). 1983. Field guide to the birds of North America. National Geographic Society, Washington, DC.
Short, L. L. 1982. Woodpeckers of the World. Museum of Natural History [Greenville, Delaware], Monograph Series xviii + 676 pp.
Spahr, R., L. Armstrong, D. Atwood, and M. Rath. 1991. Threatened, endangered, and sensitive species of the Intermountain Region. U.S. Forest Service, Ogden, Utah.
Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
Zink, R. M., S. Rohwer, A. V. Andreev, and D. L. Dittman. 1995. Trans-Beringia comparisons of mitochondrial DNA differentiation in birds. Condor 97:639-649.
 

Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.

Suggested Citation:

B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 1996. Species Summary: Picoides dorsalis. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Jun 10, 2026).