Hairy Woodpecker

Black and white above, with a white belly. The male has a small red patch on the back of the head. Length: 19 cm.; weight: 40-90 g. Audio (M. Oberle). Breeds over much of North America from Alaska and southern Labrador south in forested areas through the mountains of Mexico to western Panamá, and also on some of the Bahamas. This species has occurred as an accidental on Mona Island. Many other species have occurred as accidentals on Mona. There are several reasons for this pattern. First, Mona Island is a "vagrant trap"--- the only hospitable habitat for land birds within hundreds of square miles of ocean in the Mona Passage. Second, Mona Island's plant cover is relatively sparse, so disoriented land birds are easier to detect there than in denser vegetation on the main island of Puerto Rico.

TAXONOMY: PICIDAE; Picinae

References

Bent, A.C. 1939. Life histories of North American woodpeckers. Smithsonian Instit. U.S. National Museum Bull. 174 (Reprinted by Dover Press, NY, 1964).

del Hoyo, J., A. Elliott, and J. Sargatal, eds. 2002. Handbook of Birds of the World, Vol. 7. Jacamars to woodpeckers. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Jackson, J. A., H. R. Ouellet, and B. J. S. Jackson. 2002. Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus). In The Birds of North America, No. 702 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.

Raffaele, H.A. 1989. A guide to the birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Princeton.

Raffaele, H.A. 1989. Una guía a las aves de Puerto Rico y las Islas Vírgenes. Publishing Resources, Inc., Santurce, PR.

Raffaele, H.A., J.W. Wiley, O.H. Garrido, A.R. Keith, and J.I. Raffaele. 1998. Guide to the birds of the West Indies. Princeton.

Winkler H., D.A. Christie, and D. Nurney. 1995. Woodpeckers: a guide to thewoodpeckers of the World. Houghton Mifflin, NY.

Hairy Woodpecker, Spanish text

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