The Black-backed Woodpecker is a boreal specialist uniquely adapted to feeding in recently burned forests, where it excavates bark beetles that colonize fire-killed trees. Its solid black back provides camouflage against charred trunks. Males sport a yellow crown patch that females lack.
Habitat
Burned boreal and montane forests, conifer bogs
Diet
Wood-boring beetle larvae under bark of dead conifers
How common
Uncommon
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