Woodpeckers (Picidae)

Strickland's Woodpecker (Picoides stricklandi) - HBW 7, p. 492

French: Pic de Strickland German: Stricklandspecht Spanish: Pico de Strickland
Other common names: Brown-backed Woodpecker(!); Arizona Woodpecker (arizonae/fraterculus)

Taxonomy: Picus (Leuconotopicus) Stricklandi Malherbe, 1845, Mount Orizaba massif, Veracruz, Mexico.
Closest to P. borealis, P. villosus and P. albolarvatus. Races arizonae and fraterculus originally treated as together forming a separate species, P. arizonae, subsequently lumped into present species, but recently resplit by several authors: distinctive morphological differences suggest that separation into two species is perhaps tenable, although vocalizations apparently very similar, plumage differences perhaps clinal in nature, and ecological requirements of the two groups overlap; further research needed. Birds from SE Sinaloa E to W Zacatecas and S to S Jalisco separated as race websteri, but apparently only an intermediate form between arizonae and fraterculus; also, birds from C Mexico (E Michoacán to Distrito Federal) named as race aztecus, being less heavily marked below than nominate, but this character apparent only in very fresh plumage and also subject to clinal variation, degree of streaking increasing towards E. Three subspecies recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

arizonae (Hargitt, 1886) - SE Arizona, extreme SW New Mexico, and Mexico in Sierra Madre Occidental (S to NE Sinaloa and neighbouring parts of Durango).
fraterculus (Ridgway, 1887) - S Sinaloa and adjacent Durango S to Michoacán.
stricklandi (Malherbe, 1845) - E Mexico, from E Michoacán E to WC Veracruz and Puebla.