Plumage, size, and sexual dimorphism in the Queen Charlotte Islands Hairy Woodpecker

Plumage, size, and sexual dimorphism of the endemic Hairy Woodpecker subspe cies Picoides villosus picoideus are described and compared with a less iso lated insular population. Museum specimens of P. v. picoideus from the Quee n Charlotte Islands, British Columbia were compared with P. v. harrisi spec imens from Vancouver island, British Columbia. Specimens from the two local ities are similar in size, although the culmen of P. v: picoideus is 5-6% s horter In plumage, P. v, picoideus is distinct in having markings on the be lly and flanks, dorsal barring, and barring on the outer rectrices. The bre ast and belly are much darker and the wing coverts have fewer white marking s in P. v, picoideus than in P. v: harrisi. Adults and juveniles, and adult males and females, differ only in minor features of plumage. Adult plumage of P. v. picoideus and insular populations of P, villosus in Newfoundland and the Grand Bahamas resembles juvenal plumage in mainland locations, and includes ancestral traits in this woodpecker lineage. Sexual dimorphism in size is similar in P. v. picoideus, P. v. harrisi, and continental populati ons, suggesting no ecological release of the sexes on the Queen Charlotte I slands or Vancouver Island. Relative sexual dimorphism in bill size varies little over the species' range, hence appears to be influenced little by ec ological factors.