Has a solidly brown back, large white cheek patch, and heavily spotted underparts—the only U.S. woodpecker with these markings. Adult males have a bright red spot at the rear of the crown.
Spirals upward around a tree, then flies to the base of the next tree and repeats, much as Brown Creepers do. Finds prey by scaling or prying off bark or by excavating into dead or live wood. Often joins mixed-species flocks of woodland birds in winter.
Nests and forages in pine-oak, oak, and sycamore-walnut woodlands at middle elevations (4,000–8,000 feet).
Regional Differences
Ornithologists recognize two subspecies: arizonae, resident from Arizona and New Mexico south to northwestern Durango and northeastern Sinaloa, Mexico. A smaller darker subspecies, fraterculus, occurs from southwestern Sinaloa and central Durango south to Michoacán, Mexico.