Mystery Bird: Ladder-Backed Woodpecker, Picoides scalaris

grrlscientist — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 08:59:31 +0000

tags: Ladder-Backed Woodpecker, Picoides scalaris , birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz

~~[Mystery bird]~~ Ladder-Backed Woodpecker, Picoides scalaris , photographed on the Katy Prairie, Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]

Image: Joseph Kennedy, 1 January 2010 [larger view].

Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/400s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.

Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.

Review all mystery birds to date.

grrlscientist Thu, 01/07/2010 - 03:59

Oh my; that is the cutest thing ever. What a perfect "say hello to the new year" shot.

I'm thinking it's the one with the "scaly" scientific name, based mainly on the head pattern, and the buffy belly with streaks on the side.

Yes John, I agree, useful for "scaling" the heights.

I'm with John, Ladder Back Woodpecker. Based on the black outline of the white cheek, rather than a solid black cheek (Nuttal's)

As ever, I cannot open the photo from work so all I can go on is your clue John!

If it's not another Chipping Sparrow, because you referred to the scientific name as "scaly" I have to assume that either the genus or the species contains the Greek Î»ÎµÏá½·Ï (lepis) meaning a "flake" or a "scale" so that possibilities would include birds such as the Tit-spinetails, genus Leptasthenura, but sadly all ten species are only distributed in South America particularly in the Andes, or the Brazilian subspecies of Tataupa Tinamou, Crypturellus tataupa lepidotus...

but yeah, the Latin for a ladder or staircase is scala so any genus or species including that root counts, so Picoides scalaris would seem to fit the "bill"!

Meant to add that is a beautiful photo.

Ah, I can see now! Certainly it looks like a male Ladder-backed Woodpecker (Picoides scalaris: the red cap turning red, white, and black spotted at the front; black eye and malar lines joining at the neck; spots laterally along the underparts...

Nuttall's (Picoides nuttallii is excluded as the red cap would be confined to the back of the crown and not above the eye and would have white above the bill and more white on the face; both the Downy (Picoides pubescens) and Hairy (Picoides villosus)would have bolder stripes on the head and the black eye and malar stripes do not join as they do in the photo above...

I think though that this could be a juvenile as the markings are considerably more subdued than I would expect: both sexes have red on the crown but not as extensive as an adult male.

Records show that this species is considerably variable and there are reports of it hybridizing with Nuttall's and with the Hairy- of the eight subspecies formally recorded, this would most likely be P. s. cactophilus.

adult male Ladder-backed 1

adult male Ladder-backed 2

Hopefully this particular comment will come after one I posted a couple of hours ago (still stuck in moderation) which will explain my references to a juvenile Ladder-backed.

This comparison by the San Diego Natural History Museum between Nuttall's and Ladder-backed Woodpeckers seems to discount the possibility that the differences between our photo and the adult males I posted earlier is due to juvenile plumage (and so therefore can only be explained by species variability, a characteristic oft reported):

"Understanding the differences in head pattern between the two species requires determining whether the bird is adult or juvenile. The juvenile plumage in these woodpeckers is seen only from fledging (midsummer) to about the first of September; later in the fall the young birds have finished their molt and have assumed adult plumage. In the adult male Nuttall's the hindcrown is red, the forecrown black with some white streaking. In the adult male Ladder-backed the red (mottled with black and white) extends forward almost to the base of the bill. In the juveniles of both the Nuttall's and Ladder-backed, however, the red extends to the forehead--when birds in juvenile plumage are about, the pattern of red on the crown cannot be used to distinguish the two species."

Given the date of the photo (this month) we must indeed have an adult male.

As I regularly see both species in my garden, some of you may also find this SDNHM Focus on Hairy and Downy Woodepeckers useful too.

I agree with the above, also based on the head pattern and what I can see of the sides. Ladder-backed and Nuttall's can hybridize, I think, but the warmer buff chest color looks like a ladder-backed.

In this case, it seems that speculation about hybridization isn't really necessary. Neither species is particularly migratory, Nuttall's doesn't even wander much (are there any records for Arizona, even?), and the photo was taken at the very eastern edge of Ladder-backed's range. I certainly don't see anything in the bird that would suggest Downy ancestry, and that's the only hybrid likely to be found in east Texas.

I agree Paul, my mention of hybridization was more of interest, and yes, from what I have read, although the Nuttall's/Ladder hybrid is often mentioned, because of their genetic proximity as well as geographically/niche-wise, a Downy/Ladder would be expected... my only pondering was the subdued nature of distinctly Ladder-backed characteristics- it seems that the juveniles should have completed their molt into adult plumage well before January, so any differences I see are either individual or geographical variability within the species... the three-color spotting on the crown is definitive, and as Kimberly mentioned, the buff on the chest is distinctly Ladder-backed as compared to the pure white of a Nuttall's... and yes, I have not yet come across any records of Nuttall's outside California, certainly nowhere near Arizona or New Mexico or Texas...

(multiple sightings of Nuttall's in Esmeralda County, Nevada (western border with CA), in 1998, 2007, 2008)

As one gets away from the air pollution of in-town Houston and reaches the undeveloped parts of the prairie, the amount and diversity of lichen growth on the trees increases dramatically. The Katy Prairie Conservancy has an eventual goal of protecting 50,000 acres of prairie WNW of Houston in as contiguous a block as possible. We currently have 17,000 acres under management. Check out our website.

Thanks for the reference, David. Sibley's actually shows one of his green dots in western Nevada, as well as southern Oregon. And of course, the range extends into northern Baja.