CONSPICUOUSLY BLACK AND WHITE 365 



Adult Female: Like male, but with no scarlet on head. 



Young : Like male, but nape black and crown red ; under parts barred 



with black. 

 Geographical Distribution: Southern Oregon and California in Upper 



Sonoran zone, west of the Sierra Nevada and east of the humid coast 



belt. 

 Breeding Flange : Same as Geographical Distribution. 

 Breeding Season: April and May. 

 Nest : In dead branches or beneath the bark of stumps. 

 3 to 6 ; white. Size 0.94 X 0.69. 



The Nuttall Woodpecker breeds west of the Sierra 

 Nevada throughout the greater portion of California, 

 being most abundant in the southern part of its range. 

 In nesting it prefers the oak trees, digging a cavity eight 

 inches deep, about twenty feet from the ground. Mr. 

 Beck, of Berryessa, California, records it as breeding in 

 the mountains east of Santa Clara County, and in one 

 instance occupying a limb in a sycamore tree where a 

 pair of red-shafted flickers had their nest. Occasionally 

 it chooses elders, willows, and giant cactuses. Nesting 

 commences early in April, and after the pearly white eggs 

 are laid both adults share in the incubation, which lasts 

 fourteen days. The young remain in the nest three to 

 four weeks, and after leaving return each night to sleep 

 in it. Both parents defend their nest and young with 

 great courage, the mother sometimes allowing herself to 

 be taken on the nest rather than leave it. Their food 

 consists of insects, larvae, berries, and fruit. 



The call of the Nuttall Woodpecker is described as a 

 series of loud rattling notes entirely unlike those of any 

 other woodpecker. In habits it resembles Gairdner's 

 woodpecker ; but its choice of locality is quite different, 

 as it prefers a higher altitude and is seldom found along 

 streams. 



