Gila Woodpecker, Melanerpes uropygialis

Gila Woodpecker, Melanerpes uropygialis brewsteri, Female. Photograph taken within a residential community in the greater Los Cabos area of Baja California Sur, March 2011. Photograph courtesy of Carol Snow, Del Mar, California.

Gila Woodpecker, Melanerpes uropygialis brewsteri, Male. Photograph taken within a residential community in the greater Los Cabos area of Baja California Sur, March 2011. Photograph courtesy of Carol Snow, Del Mar, California.

Gila Woodpecker, Melanerpes uropygialis uropygialis, Female. Photograph taken in the greater Bahía de los Ángeles area, Baja California, October 2022. Photograph courtesy of George Flicker, Bahía de los Ángeles. Identification courtesy of Mary & George Flicker, Bahía de los Ángeles.

Gila Woodpecker, Melanerpes uropygialis uropygialis, Male. Photograph taken within a residential community in Alamos, Sonora, April 2018. Photograph and identification courtesy of David F Smith, Alamos, Sonora.

Background and Identification

The Gila Woodpecker, Melanerpes uropygialis brewsteri, and Melanerpes uropygialis uropygialis, are two of three subspecies of Gila Woodpecker, all three of which are found in Mexico. They are a member of the Picidae Family of Woodpeckers, which has two hundred thirty-three members placed in thirty-three genera, and one of twenty-three global species of the Melanerpes Genus. They are known in Mexico as carpintero de gila.

The Gila Woodpecker is medium-sized in stature. The males are larger than the females and have longer bills. The adults have a pale-gray to tan head and underparts with a whitish forehead. The upperparts of the back, inner wing, rump, uppertail covers and central and outermost rectrices are barred in black and white. Their belly has a golden-yellow tinge Their bill is dull or slate black. The sexes are similar and difficult to separate visually but the males have a small round or rectangular red patch on the crown.

Habitat and Geographical Range

The Gila Woodpecker are normally found in arid habitats being most abundant in sparsely covered desert mesas being closely associated with the Cardon and Saguaros Cacti. They are also found in riparian woodlands and residential areas, and normally at elevations below 1,000 m (3,300 feet) They are an omnivore that consume the flowers and fruits of numerous cacti, insects, other animals and bird eggs. They are a noisy, aggressive species.

In Mexico the Gila Woodpecker is found throughout Baja California (except the extreme northwest corner) and Baja California Sur, Sonora, southwest Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Durango, Nayarit, and Zacatecas to Jalisco and Aguascalientes. The brewsteri subspecies, being smaller in stature, are found in Baja California Sur south of San Ignacio; the uropygialis subspecies is found from the United States border in western mainland Mexico south to Aguascalientes and Jalisco. They are sedentary and non-migratory.

Common Misidentifications

Conservation Status

From a conservation perspective the Gila Woodpecker is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. Their long-term viability is threatened by habitat degradation by human development of the Sonoran Desert and competition for nest sites with the European Starling, Sturnus vulgaris, a species that is invading and taking over the southwest deserts of the United States.