Justification This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population trend appears to be increasing, and hence the species does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is very large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

Family/Sub-family Picidae

Species name author Baird, 1858

Taxonomic source(s) AOU checklist (1998 + supplements)

Taxonomic note Picoides tridactylus (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) has been split into P. tridactylus and P. dorsalis following AOU (2003).

Population estimate

Population trend

Range estimate (breeding/resident)

Country endemic?

800,000

unset

7,900,000 km²

No

Range & population This species has a large range across boreal North America, and into the Rocky Mountains of the USA.

Ecology: The species inhabits mature conifer forests, particularly spruce Picea spp., and is somewhat irruptive, being found commonly where disturbance such as fire has caused local outbreaks of insects (Winkler et al. 1995).

Threats Large-scale commercial logging and modern forestry management practices, including fire suppression and removal of dead or insect-infested trees, are likely to have led to declines of this species (Hutto 1995, Leonard 2001).

References 1. Hutto (1995). 2. Leonard (2001). 3. Rich et al. (2003). 4. Winkler et al. (1995).

Text account compilers Stuart Butchart (BirdLife International), Jonathan Ekstrom (BirdLife International), John Pilgrim (BirdLife International)

IUCN Red List evaluators Jeremy Bird (BirdLife International), Stuart Butchart (BirdLife International)

Recommended citation BirdLife International (2009) Species factsheet: Picoides dorsalis. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 9/2/2010

This information is based upon, and updates, the information published in BirdLife International (2000) Threatened birds of the world. Barcelona and Cambridge, UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, BirdLife International (2004) Threatened birds of the world 2004 CD-ROM and BirdLife International (2008) Threatened birds of the world 2008 CD-ROM. These sources provide the information for species accounts for the birds on the IUCN Red List.

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