Western Bird Guide: Birds of the Rockies and West to the Pacific

by Charles K. Reed

CALIFORNIA WOODPECKER.

407a. Melanerpes formicivorus bairdi. 9½ inches.

A common and attractive woodpecker throughout California and Oregon. With its red cap and white forehead, and back or upper parts black tinged with green, a solid black band across the breast, white under parts and rump, and, above all, their continual talking among themselves. Nest, eggs, food, same as above, with the addition to its diet of acorns in great numbers.