Sphyrapicus thyroideus

Habitat includes middle to high elevation montane and subalpine coniferous forest, including spruce-fir, Douglas-fir, western larch (e.g., British Columbia), lodgepole pine, and ponderosa pine, and also mixed deciduous-coniferous forest with quaking aspen (Cannings et al. 1987, Campbell et al. 1990, Dobbs et al. 1997). In migration and winter this woodpecker also occurs in lowland forest and woodland, including pine-oak, oak-juniper, and, to a lesser extent, oak and deciduous riparian (Dobbs et al. 1997). Nests are in tree cavities; individuals usually excavate a hole 2-18 meters above ground, usually in dead or decaying pine, fir, larch, or aspen (Terres 1980). Suitable nesting snags generally are more common in old forests than in younger ones. Accordingly, in Oregon, Manna and Meslow (1984) found this sapsucker in old growth (200+ years old) but not in rotation-age (85-year-old) forest.

Clutch size is 3-7 (usually 5-6). Incubation, by both sexes, lasts 12-14 days. Young are tended by both adults; leave nest cavity about 28-35 days after hatching (Terres 1980). Individual females produce not more than one brood per year (Dobbs et al. 1997). Both sexes can breed in second calendar year (Dobbs et al. 1997).