Overview:  This woodpecker usually inhabits high elevation spruce/fir forest especially those with windfalls, burned areas and a lot of standing dead trees.  The black-backed woodpecker can also be found in swamps and mixed deciduous/coniferouse forests usually above 3000 feet.  In the winter this bird will wander into lower elevation coniferous forests below 3000 feet.  The black-backed often shares its habitat with the similar three-toed woodpecker (Picoides tridactylus), which differs in that its back is decorated with a conspicuous white ladder pattern.  Both of these species differ from other woodpeckers in that they have only three toes instead of four.  The black-backed woodpecker feeds almost exclusively on the larvae of wood-boring beetles and may consume over 13,000 annually.  The bird seems predisposed to forage in burned areas and its black back may serve as a form of camouflage when feeding in these denuded areas.  The breeding biology of this woodpecker is not well known although it seems to prefer fir trees with a cavity below a branch.  Nest cavities are generally constructed each year as a means to control parasites and avoid nest predators.

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