The Lewis's Woodpecker is a medium-sized woodpecker with a dark, red face and pinkish belly. Alongside its greenish-black head, back and wings, it has a gray collar and chest in addition to all dark wings and tail. While similar to adults, juveniles lack a red face as well as gray collar and chest.

References cited in Species Profile

• Bock, C. E. 1970. The ecology and behavior of the Lewis's Woodpecker (Asyndesmus lewis). Univ. Calif. Publ. Zool. 92:1-100.
• Cornell Lab of Ornithology. 2015. Lewis's Woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis). Birds in Forested Landscapes. http://www.birds.cornell.edu/bfl/speciesaccts/lewwoo.html
• Desante, D. and P. Pyle. 1986. Distributional checklist of North American birds, Vol. 1: United States and Canada. Artemisia Press, Lee Vining, CA.
• Diem, K. L. and S. I. Zeveloff. 1980. Ponderosa pine bird communities. Pages 170-197 inWorkshop Proceedings: Management of western forests and grasslands for nongame birds. (DeGraff, R. M. and N. G. Tilghman, Eds.) U.S.D.A. Forest Service Gen. Tech. Report INT-86.
• Environment Canada. 2014. Management Plan for the Lewis's Woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis) in Canada. Species at Risk Act Management Plan Series. Environment Canada, Ottawa. iii + 23 pp
• Gentry, D. J. and K. T. Vierling. 2008. Reuse of woodpecker cavities in the breeding and non-breeding seasons in old burn habitats in the Black Hills, South Dakota. American Midland Naturalist 160(2):413-429.
• Great Basin Bird Observatory. 2015. Lewis's Woodpecker. http://www.gbbo.org/pdf/bcp/54_Lewis's%20Woodpecker.pdf
• Hart, J. H. and D. L. Hart. 2001. Interaction among cervids, fungi, and aspen in northwest Wyoming. RMRS-P-18. USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station Proceedings, Fort Collins.
• Newlon, K. R. and V. A. Saab. 2011. Nest-site selection and nest survival of Lewis's Woodpecker in aspen riparian woodlands. Condor 113(1):183-193.
• Sauer, J. R., J. E. Hines, J. E. Fallon, K. L. Pardieck, D. J. Ziolkowski, Jr., and W. A. Link.2011. The North American breeding bird survey, results and analysis 1966-2009. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel. [Online.] http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs
• Snow, R. B. 1941. A natural history of the Lewis Woodpecker Asyndesmus lewis (Gray).Master's Thesis. Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City.
• Vierling, Kerri T., Victoria A. Saab and Bret W. Tobalske. 2013. Lewis's Woodpecker (Melanerpeslewis), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/284