The Wonderful World of Woodpeckers
One of my favorite groups of birds, and certainly one of the most entertaining to watch, is the woodpecker family. The Picidae family is represented in North America by twenty-two extant species, and as of last year, I have managed to see them all! (Although, I have not successfully photographed them all yet!) Acorn Woodpeckers on a granary tree, Pinnacles National Park Sixteen of these twenty-two species are found in California, though some are fairly rare or have a limited range within the state. Really, twelve species can be expected with a reasonable degree of confidence in the right habitat within California. ( *California's twelve most common species of woodpeckers are marked with an asterisk below .) *Lewis's Woodpecker (California and the western U.S.) One of our most unique-looking woodpeckers, the rosy pink and dark, oily green Lewis's Woodpecker is regularly spotted in California's blue oak woodlands around the edges of the Central Valley....
