Lewis's Woodpecker Similar Species Comparison
Main SpeciesLewis's Woodpecker
Adult
The Lewis's Woodpecker is a bulky pink and green woodpecker with a red face that often appears dark depending on lighting. It looks like a woodpecker, but forages like a flycatcher.
© Ian Routley / Macaulay LibraryBritish Columbia, August 09, 2012Adult
A large, dark woodpecker with a pink belly and red face. Occasionally visits feeders.
© Ian Routley / Macaulay LibraryBritish Columbia, July 14, 2012Adult
Often perches on posts or wires from which it flycatches for insects.
© Timothy Barksdale / Macaulay LibraryCalifornia, February 16, 1997Not all videos have sound
Adult
A green-backed woodpecker with a pink belly, a gray collar, and a red face patch.
© Bryan Calk / Macaulay LibraryCalifornia, February 23, 2018Adult
Can appear black, especially at a distance and in poor light. Unlike other woodpeckers, often catches insects on the wing. In flight often looks and flies like a crow.
© Mary McSparen / Macaulay LibraryArizona, March 05, 2019Adult
Hitches up trees like a woodpecker, but also perches perpendicular on branches or on wires similar to a songbird.
© Timothy Barksdale / Macaulay LibraryCalifornia, February 16, 1997Not all videos have sound
Adult
Nests in cavities in dead and decaying trees in oak woodlands, open ponderosa pine forests, and woodlands near streams.
© Brian Sullivan / Macaulay LibraryCalifornia, December 28, 2011Not all videos have sound
Similar SpeciesAcorn Woodpecker
Male
The Acorn Woodpecker lacks the Lewis's Woodpecker's pink belly, red face, and gray collar.
© Brian Sullivan / Macaulay LibraryCalifornia, August 11, 2010Similar SpeciesBlack-backed Woodpecker
Female
Male and female Black-backed Woodpeckers have a white stripe on their face that both juvenile and adult Lewis's Woodpeckers lack.
© Chris Wood / Macaulay LibraryMinnesota, September 15, 2016Rotate Your Device to Better Compare
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