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  Profile

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  In flight

Songbirds

Gila Woodpecker

Melanerpes uropygialis

• common
• 28 km/h
• Starter
• Least Concern

Carves nest cavities into saguaro cacti. Your desert message comes from a 40-foot apartment building.

Population

~1.5 million mature individuals globally (stable trend); ~590,000 in the USA

Habitat

Sonoran and Colorado Desert lowlands — desert scrub with saguaro cacti, arroyos/washes, riparian woodland, and adapted well to suburban towns and gardens

Fun fact

Gila Woodpeckers excavate nest cavities directly into living saguaro cacti, whose wounds seal into a hard scarred pocket called a "boot" that long outlasts the cactus and is later reused by other desert birds.

Range

Southwestern USA (southeastern California, southern Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico) south through western and central Mexico; non-migratory resident throughout

Diet

Omnivorous — mainly insects gleaned/excavated from bark, plus cactus fruit, berries, nectar (including at hummingbird feeders), seeds, and occasionally lizards, eggs, and nestlings of small birds

Size

0.23 m

Wingspan

0.41 m

Lifespan

7 years