This post is also available in: Swedish
Three-toed woodpecker – Picoides tridactylus
Three-toed woodpecker – Picoides tridactylus
The adult is 21.5–24 cm (8.5–9.4 in) in length. It is black on the head, wings and rump, and white from the throat to the belly; the flanks are white with black bars. The back is white with black bars, and the tail is black with the white outer feathers barred with black. The adult male has a yellow cap. hree-toed woodpeckers nest in a cavity in a dead conifer or sometimes a live tree or pole. The pair excavates a new nest each year.
This bird is normally a permanent resident, but northern birds may move south and birds at high elevations may move to lower levels in winter. Three-toed woodpeckers forage on conifers in search of wood-boring beetle larvae or other insects.
This is the sound
Recording by Patrik Åberg from Xeno-canto