The American Three-toed Woodpecker has three toes. It chips sideways at bark on dead or dying trees to find beetle larvae beneath it.
It has three toes rather than the four found on most woodpeckers. In 2003, the former broader Three-toed Woodpecker was split into this species and the Eurasian Three-toed Woodpecker.
It chips sideways at bark on dead and dying trees to expose beetle larvae underneath. It is especially numerous in disturbed forests, including recent burns and bark beetle outbreaks.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.