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Leuconotopicus albolarvatus
This was the first time I'd been able to photograph this bird. It's easily recognized by its black body and white head. Males have a red spot at the back of its head. After posting this bird on a FB birding site I was contacted by a biologist that was responsible for tagging it as a fledgling in 2011. This makes this bird about 11 years old - the oldest one still alive in their study.
Spotted in the Wenas Wilderness in Washington State. The bird was visiting older pine trees. The area was mostly pine trees along creeks with open sagebrush steppe in the higher elevations.
Found in pine forest in western North America from southern British Columbia to California.
Spotted on Mar 27, 2022
Submitted on Nov 5, 2022
3 Comments
Great spotting and equally great story, Brian38!
Thank you Sukanya. It was exciting to find out about the bird from the biologist . He also said where I found it and where it was released 11 years ago was in the same general area. I thought that was amazing.
What a beauty...and nice story to go with the spotting too.