Ladder-backed Woodpecker

The Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Picoides scalaris, is a North American woodpecker. The Ladder-backed Woodpecker is fairly common in dry brushy areas and thickets and has a rather large range. The species can be found year-round over the south-western United States, most of Mexico, and locally in Central America as far south as Nicaragua. Their range also extends into extreme southern Nevada and extreme southeastern Colorado.

The Ladder-backed Woodpecker is a small woodpecker about 6½ to 7½ inches in length. It is primarily colored black and white, with a barred pattern on its back and wings resembling the rungs of a ladder. Its rump is speckled with black, as are its cream-colored undersides on the breast and flanks. Southern populations have duskier buff breasts and distinctly smaller bills. Adult males have a red crown patch that is smaller in young and lacking in adult females.

Ladder-backed Woodpeckers nest in cavities excavated from tree trunks, or in more arid environments a large cactus will do. The female lays between 2 and 7 plain white eggs. The eggs are incubated by both sexes, but the nesting period and other details are unknown.

Like most other woodpeckers the Ladder-backed Woodpecker bores into tree-trunks with its chisel-like bill to hunt for insects and their larva, but it also feeds on fruit produced by cacti.