Small black-and-white woodpecker. Head with black ear-coverts and malar stripe, which both connect with black nape. Upperparts, including wings and tail black with white barring; underparts white with some black spots and barring on sides, flanks, and under tail-coverts. Sexes alike, except male has forehead black becoming streaked with white on center of crown and entirely red on rear crown and upper nape, while female has these areas entirely black with some white streaking. Juveniles resemble adults but have slightly more grayish to buffy underparts, whiter upperparts, and, unlike adults, both sexes show red in crown (usually a small patch in center of crown in males, while females have fewer and more scattered red-tipped feathers).

References cited in Species Profile

• Lowther, Peter E. 2000. Nuttall's Woodpecker (Picoides nuttallii), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/555
• Miller, A. H. and C. E. Bock. 1972. Natural history of the Nuttall Woodpecker at the Hastings Reservation. Condor 74:284-294.
• Pyle, P. 1997. Identification guide to North American birds: Pt. I: Columbidae to Ploceidae.Slate Creek Press, Bolinas, CA.
• Sauer, J. R., J. E. Hines, I. Thomas, J. Fallon, and G. Gough. 1999. The North American Breeding Bird Survey, results and analysis 1966-1998. Version 98.1, USGS Patuxent Wildl. Res. Center, Laurel, MD. [Online.] http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs/
• Short, Jr., L. L. 1982. Woodpeckers of the world. Del. Mus. Nat. Hist. Monogr. Ser. 4.