Woodpeckers of North America

Sandy Campbell is a reference librarian in the Science and Technology Library at the University of Alberta.

Frances Backhouse defines the geographic extent of her book as
“Nearctic North America,” which includes the north half of Mexico.
Woodpeckers that occur south of that line are excluded. They are
included in the Central America and the Caribbean descriptions and
distribution maps, if the ranges of northern species extend to those
places.

The first half of the book covers general information about
woodpeckers: anatomy, communication, nesting, reproduction and
mortality, feeding, relationships with other species and with humans.
The latter section includes both the impact of humans on woodpeckers and
that of woodpeckers on humans. Backhouse describes traditional uses of
plumage and body parts, woodpeckers as food, and the damage woodpeckers
do to wooden poles, buildings, and domestic trees. The impact of
settlement, agriculture, logging, fire suppression, and ecosystem
management are also discussed. While the book contains much scientific
data, it is written to be accessible to the lay reader. Any terms that
are scientifically specific (e.g., “sexual monochromatic”) are
either explained immediately in the text or covered in the glossary.

The second half of the book contains species profiles. They begin with
general information that includes historical knowledge of the bird and
important relationships with people. This section is followed by
identification information, again without technical terms. The remainder
of the account includes distribution, habitat, voice, breeding, feeding,
migration, and conservation.

There are more than 70 photographs, many of them full-page or half-page
images of the 28 species of woodpeckers found in this region. Most of
the photos are excellent. Some, like the red-breasted sapsucker tossing
out wood shavings, are outstanding. Some are deliberately blurred to
show the speed of the pecking, while an unfortunate few are not quite in
focus or are not well composed.

There are a few standard works on North American woodpeckers, but they
are quite old. It is useful to have a new compilation that includes
current knowledge, such as sightings of the ivory-billed woodpecker
(which was until recently thought to be extinct).