Monday 10 September 2007

Three-toed Woodpecker: juvenile alpinus race ID

Juvenile males of the alpinus race are very dark above and heavily marked below. The throat stands out as the most obvious area of white. The white back panel is heavily barred black, in fact, for some birds it might be better described as a black back dotted white. The main difference from female siblings involves the extent of yellow of the fore-crown. Though never as extensive as on adult male, juvenile males have a clear yellow patch on the fore-crown.Juvenile female alpinus are very similar to theor male siblings, but usually they only have a touch of dull yellow on the fore-crown and are, overall, more like juvenile males than adult females.

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