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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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Reader photo: Lewis’s woodpecker is a regal explorer

Lewis’s woodpecker is a large North American species which ornithologist Alexander Wilson named after Meriwether Lewis, one of the explorers who surveyed the areas bought by the U.S. as part of the Louisiana Purchase and discovered this species of bird. Taken west of Davenport, Washington on May 7, 2020. (Buck Domitrovich / COURTESY)

One of the largest species of American woodpeckers, Lewis’s woodpecker is a large North American species that ornithologist Alexander Wilson named after Meriwether Lewis, one of the explorers who surveyed the areas bought by the U.S. as part of the Louisiana Purchase and discovered this species of bird.

Although it forages for insects by boring into trees with its chisel-like bill, the bird also catches insects in the air during flight, a habit in which only a few other woodpeckers engage. It also feeds on berries and nuts, and will shell and store nuts in cracks and holes in wood to store until winter.

Web extra: Submit your own outdoors-related photographs for a chance to be published in our weekly print edition and browse our archive of past reader submissions online at spokesman.com/outdoors.