Range.—Pacific coast of the United States; occurring rarely in southern British Columbia; nonmigratory.
The range of the white-headed woodpecker extends north to Washington (Methow River and probably Fort Colville); and northern Idaho (Fort Sherman). East to western Idaho (Fort Sherman and Grangeville); eastern Oregon (Hurricane Creek, Powder River Mountains, Anthony, and Camp Harney); western Nevada (Carson); and eastern California (Bijou, Yosemite Valley, Pyramid Peak, San Bernardino Mountains, and Cuyamaca Mountains). South to southern California (Cuyamaca Mountains and Mount Pinos). West to the western slopes of the Sierra Nevadas, Calif. (Mount Pinos, Bear Valley, Fyffe, Butte Lake, and Mount Shasta); western Oregon (Pinehurst, Foley Creek, and The Dalles); and western Washington (Kalama, Cle Elum, and Methow River).
The species has been separated into two subspecies, the northern white-headed woodpecker (Dryobates a. albolarvatus), occupying most of the range south to the southern end of the Sierra Nevadas, and the southern white-headed woodpecker (D. a. gravirostris), found in the mountain ranges of southern California.
Casual records.—A specimen collected near Point Bonita, Marin County, Calif., on July 20, 1932, is the only coastal record in that State. There is, however, an old record for Grays Harbor, Wash. (previous to 1892), which cannot now be confirmed.
In the Provincial Museum at Victoria, British Columbia, there is an unlabeled specimen said to have been collected in the Similkameen Valley. Two have been collected at Okanagan, British Columbia, one on December 20, 1911, and the other on January 24, 1914.
- Egg dates.—California: 53 records, April 24 to June 16; 27 records, May 22 to June 7, indicating the height of the season.
DRYOBATES ALBOLARVATUS GRAVIROSTRIS (Grinnell)
SOUTHERN WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKER
HABITS
Dr. Joseph Grinnell (1902), in describing and naming the white-headed woodpecker of the mountain ranges of southern California, gave as its characters: “Similar to Xenopicus albolarvatus but bill much heavier, and size in general slightly greater.” He named it as a distinct species, on the theory that “the material at hand does not justify subspecific treatment of these two forms. Geographical continuity of ranges possibly exists; but it seems quite as likely that there is a broad hiatus in the vicinity of Tehachapi Pass, whence I can find no record of the white-headed woodpecker.”