Arizona Woodpecker, Dryobates arizonae

Arizona Woodpecker, Dryobates arizonae arizonae, Male. Photograph taken within a residential community in Hereford, Arizona, April 2004. Photograph and identification courtesy of Bob Behrstock, Sierra Vista, Arizona (naturewideimages.com).

Arizona Woodpecker, Dryobates arizonae arizonae, Male. Photograph taken in the greater Alamos area, Alamos, Sonora, December 2019. Photograph and identification courtesy of David F Smith, Alamos, Sonora.

The Arizona Woodpecker, Dryobates arizonae, is one of two subspecies of Arizona Woodpecker, both of which are found in Mexico, and is a member of the Picidae Family of Woodpeckers. There are twenty-five global members of the Dryobates Genus. They are known in Mexico as Pico de Arizona.

The Arizona Woodpecker is a mid-sized montane woodpecker. The sexes are similar in appearance and the plumages are maintained year-round. The males have a small red patch on the occiput. They have an overall brown and white appearance with all brown foreheads, crown nape, and underparts. Portions of their head are white. They have brown ear coverts and a brown malar stripe. Their remaining underparts are various shades of white with brown spots on the breast and sides. Their tail is blackish with white baring and their wings are brown with narrow white bars on the primaries. Their bill is blackish, long, and straight with a chisel tip; their iris is hazel to dark brown; and, their legs are feet are greenish gray.

The Arizona Woodpecker is found at mid-elevations within arid pine-oak woodlands and adjacent riparian woodlands at elevations between 900 m (2,950 feet) and 2,500 m (8,200 feet). They are secretive and difficult to locate in the wild especially while nesting found as solitary individuals. They vigorously defend their territories. They consume larval and adult insects, fruits, and acorns. The Arizona Woodpecker has been poorly studied and very limited information about their behavioral patterns and biology has been documented.

The Arizona Woodpecker is found in southwestern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico south along Mexico’s Sierra Madre Occidental and then eastward along the southern rim of the Mexican plateau within the states of Sonora, Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Durango, Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, Zacatecas, and Michoacán. The arizonae subspecies are found within southern and northeastern Sinaloa and western Durango.

The Arizona Woodpecker is the only brown and white woodpecker in Mexico and cannot be easily confused with any other species.

From a conservation perspective, the Arizona Woodpecker is categorized by the IUCN as Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations.