American Three-toed Woodpecker (Picoides dorsalis) Joseph A. Youngman
Like its more common relative the Black- backed Woodpecker, the American Three-toed Woodpecker is a resident of coniferous forests and generally more northerly in range in the boreal forest, but more southerly in the Rocky Mountains. Based on DNA evidence and differences in vocalizations, the American Ornithologists’ Union (AOU) returned the North American forms to full species status in 2003, separate from European and Asian forms, as had been the case between 1914 and 1931 (AOU 1931, Banks et al. 2003, Ridgway 1914). Its heartland in North America is the boreal forest across Canada, but it extends down the Rockies as far south as Arizona and New (Click to view a comparison of Atlas I to II) Mexico. In the east, its range reaches south into the northern fringes of Minnesota, Michigan, During the MBBA II period three breeding New York, Vermont and Maine (Leonard 2001). season sightings were reported and accepted by the MBRC; a single male found in Baraga It specializes in beetles and larvae found on County on 14 July 2004, a single female near dead or dying conifers, especially spruce. Negaunee, Marquette County on 30 June 2006, It is well known for scaling the bark of trunks and a single individual on Isle Royale on 16 and branches of conifers to get at the insect May 2008. Two additional records were prey. Unlike the Black-backed Woodpecker that accepted after the atlas period, a single female often digs fairly deep into the trunk for wood – on Isle Royale on 23 May 2009, and a single boring insects the Three-toed usually feeds on individual in Marquette County on 29 June bark beetles and their larvae which are found 2009. (MBRC 2010, Putnam 2010). just underneath the bark (Leonard 2001). Michigan’s results for American Three-toed Woodpecker fit neatly between the results This species was first reported in Michigan in reported by the recent atlas efforts in Wisconsin the Keweenaw Peninsula (Kneeland 1857). and Ontario. To the north, Ontario reported While there is one confirmed breeding record confirmed breeding for American Three-toed from Baraga County in 1953 (Payne 1983), just north of Lake Superior (Cadman et al. sightings of the Three-toed are very rare and 2007), while to our south and west, Wisconsin usually in the UP. The Michigan Bird Records did not record the bird at all during breeding Committee (MBRC) website lists only 34 months during their atlas period (Cutright et al. accepted sightings of American Three-toed 2006). Between atlas periods, breeding season Woodpecker, with one record from Emmet records of American Three-toed Woodpecker County in 1986 being the only one for the LP accepted by the MBRC included: one in August (MBRC 2010). MBBA I reported a male and 1994 in Chippewa County, one in May 2000 in female American Three-toed sighting in Benzie Keweenaw County, and one in May 2000 in County during July of 1988. Since that time the Houghton County (Reinoehl 2000, MBRC MBRC has reviewed and rejected that sighting 2010) (Putnam 2008). Like the Black-backed Woodpecker, the American Three-toed Woodpecker clearly
© 2011 Kalamazoo Nature Center American Three-toed Woodpecker (Picoides dorsalis) Joseph A. Youngman makes occasional fall and winter invasions Kneeland, S. 1857. On the birds of Keweenaw south into Michigan. Up to three were seen in Point, Lake Superior. Proceedings of the November and December of 2006 in a small Boston Society of Natural History. burn area at the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula Leonard, Jr., D.L. 2001. American Three-toed (Dombroski 2007, Murphy 2007, Putnam 2008). Woodpecker (Picoides dorsalis). In The Modest efforts were made to relocate those Birds of North America, No. 588 (A. Poole birds in the summer of 2007, but without and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North success. UP sightings during the breeding America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA. season between the atlas periods, several fall Michigan Bird Records Committee (MBRC). and winter sightings during the second atlas 2010. Michigan Bird Records Committee period, and the vast acreage of suitable nesting website. habitat for this bird in the UP make it seem
© 2011 Kalamazoo Nature Center