Gila woodpecker

noun

1. a dull-colored woodpecker, Melanerpes uropygialis, of the southwestern U.S. and Mexico.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Gila woodpecker¹

1855–60, Americanism; after Gila

Example Sentences

In the Santa Catalina Mountains just north of Tucson, for example, woodpeckers include “the Gila woodpecker in the Sonoran Desert, ladder-backed woodpeckers in lower elevation habitats, then the Arizona woodpecker common in Madrean evergreen forests and hairy woodpeckers in ponderosa pine and Canadian boreal forests,” Mr. Safford said.

From New York Times

The snowy egret, vermilion flycatcher and Gila woodpecker are surging back in the Laguna Grande wetlands and the endangered yellow-billed cuckoo is found anew at this key stopover on the Pacific migratory bird flyway.

From Scientific American

The cactus tree, like the eastern forest tree, is often found bored full of round, holes that are made by the Gila woodpecker.

From Project Gutenberg