Bird of the Week – American Three-toed Woodpecker
We’ll go back to woodpeckers for a while. The American Three-toed Woodpecker is a medium-sized black-and-white woodpecker. The male has a small yellow patch on his forehead.
American Three-toed Woodpecker, Upper Chena River Valley
The feet do indeed have only three toes, instead of the more common four: 2 forward and 1 backward. (The Black-backed Woodpecker has the same configuration.)
The Three-toed can be a difficult bird to find. Unlike other woodpeckers, it doesn’t drill. Instead, it flakes off pieces of spruce bark to get to insects. It prefers spruce bark beetles, but is otherwise a generalist. Three-toeds will drum to establish territory, often picking a dead limb.
Like the Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers, the Three-toed generally hangs around all winter, although they can be irruptive.
For more bird photos, please visit Frozen Feather Images.
Birds of North America, an on-line resource, says:
Most woodpeckers have four toes on each foot. The three-toed and Black-backed woodpeckers have only three. The loss of the fourth toe may help deliver stronger blows, but at the expense of climbing ability.
Thanks, WC. Beautiful photography as always.
I’ll bite. What sort of evolutionary advantage is there to having three instead of four toes? It would save time inventorying body parts, but that is about all.