Trees are not only beautiful works of nature, but essentials for life

– Anonymous

It took me several years after I moved from Indiana to Colorado to locate where I could find the Lewis’s Woodpecker. I had heard from birding friends that these birds are in our area, but where? This woodpecker can be found in woodlands near any water including areas with streams, Ponderosa pine woodlands, among pinyon-juniper trees, oak brush or even orchards. They frequently breed in open Ponderosa pine forests or burned forests with a high density of standing, dead trees with snags for nesting.

My best sighting of this bird happened in the month of February while birding with a friend. We were in the area of Pleasant Valley off on a side road when we heard a raspy voice belonging to a Lewis’s Woodpecker. He was sitting on a tree limb and facing it on an opposite limb was a Townsend’s Solitaire. I don’t know what the problem was, as both birds were staring at each other. A food source such as nuts of any kind, berries or small fruit may have caused the commotion and finally the Solitaire flew off. It was interesting to watch as another species, a Clark’s Nutcracker, also arrived close to the event that was going on.

The Lewis’s Woodpecker is a beautiful bird of many colors. He sports a dark red face, gray collar, even a pink belly and a blackish green back. When the bird is in flight he resembles a crow, and he also resembles the colorful Acorn Woodpecker in the face.

The most remarkable feature of the bird is the way he catches his food by fly-catching. He eats a wide variety of insects by sallying and hawking aerial insects. One would think he should be in the family of flycatchers instead of the woodpecker family. His other food menu consists of a variety of nuts, including acorns, which he can break into pieces pounding them with his bill and storing them in bark crevices or holes in trees for winter consumption.

I have read that this species was named after Capt. Meriwether Lewis during the “Lewis and Clark Expedition” which crossed the west in 1804-1806. In Helena, Montana, Capt. Lewis collected this woodpecker and many other species to take back East. The woodpecker was named in his honor by Alexander Wilson, who was known as the “Father of Ornithology” and established the beginning of the science of ornithology in North America.

I think all woodpeckers are interesting to watch and learn about, but the Lewis’s Woodpecker wins the prize. He is a sensitive and specialized woodpecker species.

Count yourself lucky to see and watch one.

THE FOLLOWING BIRDS WERE SIGHTED IN OURAY COUNTY IN FEBRUARY 2022: Canada Goose, Mallard, Ringnecked Duck, Common Goldeneye*, Common Merganser, Northern Harrier, Ferruginous Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk & Leucistic Red-tailed Hawk, Rough-legged Hawk, Golden Eagle, Bald Eagle, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Northern Pygmy Owl*, Lewis’s Woodpecker*, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, American Kestrel, Steller’s Jay, Clark’s Nutcracker, Black-billed Magpie, American Crow, Common Raven, Mountain Chickadee, Black-capped Chickadee, White-breasted Nuthatch, Pygmy Nuthatch, American Dipper, American Robin, Townsend’s Solitaire, Cedar Waxwing, Dark-eyed Junco – Gray-headed, Oregon, Pink-sided, Slate-colored; Cassin’s Finch, Red-winged Blackbird, Pine Siskin, Rosy-Finches (Brown-capped, Gray-crowned, Black). NOTE: On Feb. 15, one Northern Pygmy Owl found dead, and one Pygmy Owl hanging around looking for food and possible mate? Sad!