Strickland's Woodpecker
Encyclopedia
The Strickland's Woodpecker (Picoides stricklandi) is a medium-sized species of woodpecker
Woodpecker
Woodpeckers are near passerine birds of the order Piciformes. They are one subfamily in the family Picidae, which also includes the piculets and wrynecks. They are found worldwide and include about 180 species....

 endemic to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

. The Arizona Woodpecker
Arizona Woodpecker
The Arizona Woodpecker is a woodpecker native to southern Arizona and New Mexico and the Sierra Madre Occidental of western Mexico...

 (P. arizonae) was formerly considered the northern subspecies of this bird until the 42nd supplement of the American Ornithologists Union checklist, which officially split them into two separate species.

Habitat

A quiet and shy bird, Strickland's Woodpeckers are fairly common in their limited range, usually found in pine forests and mixed pine-oak slopes at heights of about 4,500 to 7,000 feet. The Strickland's Woodpecker's range generally follows a thin east-west band in central Mexico from Michoacán
Michoacán
Michoacán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 113 municipalities and its capital city is Morelia...

 to Veracruz
Veracruz
Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave , is one of the 31 states that, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided in 212 municipalities and its capital city is...

.

Description

Strickland's Woodpeckers grow to be about 7 to 8 inches in length, and are mainly brown and white in color. They are brown on top with a dark rump and have white underparts speckled with many brown spots. Strickland's Woodpeckers usually have three white bars on their wings, and have two white stripes across their face which join with another white bar on their neck. Male Strickland's Woodpeckers also have a red patch on the nape of their head which is lacking on females.

The nest of this species is in a cavity excavated from a dead tree trunk. The female lays three to four white eggs on a bed of wood chips, but other details of nesting periods and duration are mostly unknown.

The name commemorates the British scientist Hugh Edwin Strickland
Hugh Edwin Strickland
Hugh Edwin Strickland , was an English geologist, ornithologist,naturalist, and systematist.Strickland was born at Reighton, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. He was the second son of Henry Eustatius Strickland of Apperley, Gloucestershire, by his wife Mary, daughter of Edmund Cartwright, D.D. [q...

.

External links

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