The species' northernmost range in southeastern Arizona, extreme southwestern New Mexico, and northern Sonora is the region of the Madrean Sky Islands, a region of higher Sonoran Desert mountain ranges.

This species is known in older field guides as a subspecies of Strickland's woodpecker.

The 42nd supplement of the American Ornithologists Union checklist officially split Strickland's woodpecker into two species: the northern population in the Sierra Madre Occidental region (Arizona, L. arizonae) and the southern population in central Mexico (Strickland's, L. stricklandi).

Some taxonomic authorities, including the American Ornithological Society, continue to place this species in the genus Picoides.

Male Arizona woodpeckers also have a red patch on the nape of their head which is lacking on females.