GAP Analysis Predicted Distribution Map

Three-toed Woodpecker (Picoides tridactylus)

Species Code: PITR

Legend:
= Core Habitat
= Marginal Habitat

Breeding Range Map
The green area shows the predicted habitats for breeding only. The habitats were identified using 1991 satellite imagery, Breeding Bird Atlas (BBA), other datasets and experts throughout the state, as part of the Washington Gap Analysis Project. Habitats used during non-breeding months and migratory rest-stops were not mapped.

Metadata (Data about data or how the map was made)

Click to enlarge distribution map

Compare range maps with other woodpeckers

Map with Breeding Bird Atlas records

Other maps & Information:

Breeding Bird Atlas
NatureMapping observations
during breeding season
NatureMapping observations
throughout the year

This species is uncommon at high elevation conifer forests. They are generally found in closed-canopy dense forests, but will utilize open habitats and burns.

Interior Western Hemlock, Mountain Hemlock, Subalpine Fir, and Alpine/Parkland zones were core areas of use. Peripheral areas were in Silver Fir, Interior Redcedar, Grand Fir, and Interior Douglas-fir zones, where these zones are adjacent to higher core zones. Good habitats in the core areas of use were conifer forests and forest openings. Good habitats in the peripheral areas of use were conifer forests.

Washington breeders represent the western subspecies P. t. fasciatus. The Three-toed Woodpecker is underrepresented in atlas coverage (and probably skewered toward lower-elevation records from less suitable habitat), due to the remoteness of the high-elevation habitats this bird prefers. This boreal species rarely occurs below the Subalpine Fir zone, but has been recorded in adjacent lower zones in the eastern Cascades, including a confirmed nesting record from Colockum Pass (at ~ 5000 feet in Kittitas County), and in the Blue Mountains where it occasionally wanders down to Fields Spring State Park.

Translated from the Washington Gap Analysis Bird Volume by Uchenna Bright
Text edited by Gussie Litwer
Webpage designed by Dave Lester