Named after famed explorer Meriwether Lewis, Lewis's Woodpecker has uniquely dark coloring and long wings. The members of its genus, Melanerpes (which means "black creeper"), are unlike other woodpeckers in that they often catch insects in the air; and some of them, like the Lewis's, forage on the ground. Lewis's slow wingbeats and frequent glides make a complex flight pattern, similar to a jay's.
A medium-sized woodpecker, the Lewis's distinct coloration differentiates it from other woodpeckers in the field. Its dark red face contrasts with a gray collar and upper breast, and the remainder of the head is greenish-black, as are its back, wings, and tail. The lower breast and belly are pink. In flight, the long wings make deep, slow beats. It may also glide, and its overall flight pattern and dark coloring make it easily mistaken for a crow or a jay. On average, the Lewis's Woodpecker grows to 10.75 inches with a 21 inch wingspan and weighs 4 ounces.
The range of this species covers much of the west, but its distribution can be patchy and inconsistent from year-to-year. The breeding range overlaps the range of Ponderosa Pine in North America, from southern British Columbia into southern New Mexico and from eastern South Dakota to the Pacific Coast. Lewis's Woodpecker winters in the southern half of its breeding range from Oregon, Utah, and Colorado south to the U.S.-Mexican border and into northern Baja California. The distribution of this species has contracted, especially in western British Columbia, western Washington, and southern California. Its range has expanded into southeastern Colorado, most likely because of habitat changes: the presence of mature cottonwoods and corn.
Lewis's Woodpeckers breed in open forests of pine or cottonwood with ground cover, snags, and insects. Ponderosa pine forests are preferred at higher elevations, while riparian woodlands dominated by cottonwoods are preferred at lower elevations. Burned pine forests are also used and appear more productive for the woodpeckers. Winter sites are usually oak woodlands or commercial orchards and are chosen for available food storage places.
Diet can vary by season, but includes insects, acorns and other nuts, fruit, and cultivated corn. Insects are captured from the air, on vegetation, and on the ground. They rarely excavate trees for wood-boring insects, but often fly after ants, bees, wasps, beetles, and grasshoppers. When insects are abundant, Lewis's Woodpecker hides the surplus. In the fall and winter, they store broken nuts and grains in the crevices of bark or cracks in telephone poles or fence posts. Several woodpeckers may use the same tree for storage, but individuals protect their own cache.
Lewis's Woodpecker begins nesting in mid-spring, earliest in the southern and latest in the northern part of its range. Pairs appear to be monogamous and may re-form each year on the same territory, which the male defends with calls, like the rapid "churr." A weak roll followed by several taps, drumming is done only in courtship. A raised wing display flashes the male's pink underparts, to attract his mate and to warn intruders. Nesting is sometimes colonial.
In a cavity of a large decaying tree, usually pine or cottonwood, the pair excavates a hole or refurbishes an old one, which has sometimes been dug by other species. Over a lining of wood chips, the female lays an average of 6-7 white eggs that hatch within only 12-16 days. The adults share incubation during the day but only the male incubates at night. Naked, blind, and unable to regulate their own temperature, the hatchlings require constant care. In about a month, they leave the hole, and within a day or two, take their first flight. After another week or so of feeding, the family joins flocks of other woodpeckers until winter, when individuals and pairs maintain their own food supplies.
Lewis's Woodpecker permanently inhabits the southern half or more of its breeding range, but northern populations evacuate their territories in late summer. Usually traveling in flocks and always moving slowly at low altitudes (10 to 500 feet), these migrants do not appear to follow traditional routes, but rather move through areas with the best food supplies. Migrants arrive on their wintering grounds in mid-fall and depart in March or April. Flocks range in size from a few to 150 woodpeckers
Sibley, David Allen. 2000. The Sibley Guide to Birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
Tobalske, B. W. 1997. Lewis' Woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis). In The Birds of North America, No. 284 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.) The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.
