No, your eyes haven’t deceived you! Differing from the grays and reds of the more common woodpecker species, Lewis’s Woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis), is one of our winter friends here in the Southwest. This woodpecker represents the month of love with its bright pink feathers, adorned with streaks of silver and oily green. 

Lewis’s Woodpecker appears buoyant in the air despite their larger size (10.75-inches long with a 21-inch wingspan), thanks to their wide rounded wings. Unusual beyond their appearance, Lewis’s Woodpecker can be spotted perched perpendicular on branches, wires, and posts—something you don’t usually see with other woodpeckers. 

This unique woodpecker also stands out by feeding mostly on insects caught in flight, swooping out from a perch like a flycatcher and circling high in the air. While their preferred food is insects, Lewis’s Woodpeckers do harvest acorns, seeds, and nuts after their nesting season (which occurs in fall and winter), creating a cache in other locations away from their nests, similar to Acorn Woodpeckers.   

Lewis’s Woodpecker travels a far range, a tribute to Meriwether Lewis from the Lewis and Clark expedition in which it was named. These birds breed in western mountain ranges like the Cascades, Rockies, and Sierras. In winter, they migrate to lower latitude forests in the Southwest. However, some hardy individuals manage to stay in the southwest year-round. 

Nesting within decaying trees, such as cottonwood and ponderosa pine, Lewis’s Woodpeckers fit themselves into hollowed-out snags. It’s interesting to note that they do not excavate their own cavities but rather use natural cavities or previously excavated cavities from other woodpeckers. Their nests host a clutch ranging from 5-9 eggs that are opaque and white in color. 

The 2025 State of Birds report identified Lewis’s Woodpecker as a Yellow Alert Tipping Point Species, meaning it is experiencing long-term population losses. The cause of such loss? Changing forest conditions across the Western United States. Forests curate healthy habitats for birds like Lewis’s Woodpeckers. They also play a critical role in the health of the watersheds our water supplies depend on. Many programs and initiatives taking place in my home state of Arizona, such as the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management’s Healthy Forest Initiative and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s WaterSMART Cooperative Watershed Management Program, work to promote healthy forests, improving the outlook of birds, such as the beloved Lewis’s Woodpecker. 

Want to stay engaged and help support the waters, forests, and land that birds and people depend on? Join our Western Water Action Network.