We see a Nuttall's on almost every visit to Lake Solano Park along Putah Creek, and our visit on October 23rd with Rich Stallcup didn't fail to produce one. The male seen backlit in the tree was likely picking insects from the bark (they rarely eat acorns, so perhaps they will get by if Sudden Oak Death continues its relentless march). Nutall's WP, Picoides nuttallii, is also found in pines and riparian habitats. Putah Creek is in Solano County, California.
The genus Picoides is diverse, and includes the closely related Ladder-backed Woodpecker of the southwest, whose range includes southwest California, with minimal overlap with the Nuttall's. These are small woodpeckers at 7", barely larger than our diminutive Picoides, the Downy Woodpecker. The other local Picoides species is the Hairy Woodpecker, a larger version of the Downy.
You can be pretty sure of your identification of Nuttall's if you see the "laddered" black and white pattern of horizontal bars on the back of a small woodpecker in California. If you are in southeast California, say Kern County, you can tell it from the Ladder-backed Woodpecker by the large expanse of black on the upper back of Nuttall's, as shown in the second photo. There is more black on the face of Nuttall's (narrower white stripes) and the white bars on the back are said to be more narrow. Nutall's also has a very characteristic rattle call, which frequently helps you locate one.
The laddered back pattern is a common feature of many woodpecker species, and is present on the female Williamson's Sapsucker, Golden-fronted WP, Gilded WP, and the American Three-toed Woodpecker, among others.
See BNA #555, by P. Lowther.
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