Quiz 13: Head pattern variations

Unlike most birds, which have a dark stripe on the side of the crown contrasting with a paler eyebrow stripe, this species has the black stripe shifted lower on the side of the head. The crown is completely blue-gray, and the supercilium is partly black. Actually I think you could say the black spreads up a little bit onto the edge of the crown, so I'll give partial credit for "crown".

All woodpeckers that have a black-and-white pattern below the eye have the colors reversed from the norm (compare the position of the dark and light stripes with the Black-throated Sparrow above). On most birds the auriculars are dark, often with a darker lower border (called a moustachial stripe since it originates near the nostrils). If there is a paler stripe below the auriculars it is on the malar (submoustachial), and there is often another dark stripe below that on the side of the throat. Woodpeckers, however, have a pale moustachial stripe originating near the nostrils and extending back along the lower edge of the auriculars. The malar (submoustachial) feathers along the side of the lower jaw are dark, and the throat is entirely pale.