Red-crowned woodpecker

Red-crowned woodpecker
female M. r. rubricapillus, Columbia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Piciformes
Family:Picidae
Genus:Melanerpes
Species: M. rubricapillus
Binomial name
Melanerpes rubricapillus
(Cabanis, 1862)

The red-crowned woodpecker (Melanerpes rubricapillus) is a resident breeding bird from southwestern Costa Rica south to Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas and Tobago.

This woodpecker occurs in forests and semi-open woodland and cultivation. It nests in a hole in a dead tree or large cactus. The clutch is two eggs, incubated by both sexes, which fledge after 31–33 days.

Adults are 20.5 cm (8.1 in) long and weigh 48 g (1.7 oz). They have a zebra-barred black and white back and wings and a white rump. The tail is black with some white barring, and the underparts are pale buff-brown.

The male has a red crown patch and nape. The female has a buff crown and duller nape. Immature birds are duller, particularly in the red areas of the head and neck.

Red-crowned woodpeckers feed on insects, but will take fruit and visit nectar feeders.

This common and conspicuous species gives a rattling krrrrrl call and both sexes drum on territory.

References

  1. ↑ BirdLife International (2012). "Melanerpes rubricapillus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  • Hilty, Steven L. (2003). Birds of Venezuela. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-7136-6418-5.
  • ffrench, Richard; O'Neill, John Patton; Eckelberry, Don R. (1991). A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago (2nd ed.). Ithaca, N.Y.: Comstock Publishing. ISBN 0-8014-9792-2.
  • "Red-crowned woodpecker media". Internet Bird Collection.
  • Red-crowned woodpecker Stamps from Venezuela at bird-stamps.org
  • Red-crowned woodpecker photo gallery at VIREO (Drexel University)
  • Red-crowned woodpecker species account at NeotropicalBirds (Cornell University)
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