Red-crowned woodpecker
Red-crowned woodpecker | |
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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
- ↑ BirdLife International (2012). "Melanerpes rubricapillus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Melanerpes rubricapillus. |
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Wikispecies has information related to Melanerpes rubricapillus |
- "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)