NUTTALL’S WOODPECKER
The most common Woodpecker seen in backyards around the San Fernando Valley is the Nuttall's. Named after biologist Thomas Nuttall in 1843, this woodpecker can be seen looking for bugs in all kinds of trees, making loud noises on telephone poles and crossing yards with its typical Woodpecker flight pattern of flap-flap-flap-coast-coast-flap-flap-flap-coast-coast.
Similar in appearance to the ladder-backed woodpecker, the Nuttall’s Woodpecker has black wings, tail feathers and forehead, plus white streaks over the eyes, but the most obvious markings are the white stripes across the back. The female generally doesn’t have a red head, but might show a little red at the back of the neck.