Golden-spangled Piculet

Identification

The golden-spangled piculet is 9 to 10 cm (3.5 to 3.9 in) long and weighs 8.5 to 10 g (0.30 to 0.35 oz). Adult males of the nominate subspecies P. e. exilis have a black cap and nape, with red spots on the forehead and white spots on the rest. Their face is yellowish white with dark speckles, bare grayish skin around the eye, and a pale stripe behind the eye. Their upperparts are olive green with darker centers to the feathers. Their primaries and secondaries are brownish green with yellow-green edges. Their wing coverts are olive green with narrow white edges and black-edged white tips. The upper side of their tail is dark brown; the innermost pair of feathers have mostly white inner webs and the outer three pairs have a large white patch near the tip. Their chin, throat, and underparts are pale yellowish with blackish bars that are more spot-like on the belly. The beak's maxilla is black and the mandible black with a silvery base; the legs are grayish with sometimes a green or blue tinge. Adult females are identical but for white spots on their entire crown. Juveniles are similar to adults but duller overall, an olive crown with pale streaking, and more diffuse bars on the underparts.<p>Subspecies P. e. undulatus has a more olive color on its upperparts than the nominate, with large black feather centers, and its wing coverts' tips are not as contrasting. P. e. clarus is yellower above than undulatus and has narrower dark bars on the underparts. P. e. buffonii has distinctive white spots with black borders on the tips of the wing coverts. P. e. alegriae is generally duller than the nominate, more olive above, and whiter below. P. e. pernambucensis has more olive upperparts than the nominate and more even bars on the underparts.

Taxonomy

The International Ornithological Committee (IOC) and BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World assign these six subspecies to the golden-spangled piculet:<p>However, the Clements taxonomy recognizes only four subspecies. It includes P. e. clarus within P. e. undulatus and P. e. alegriae within P. e. buffonii. Subspecies P. e. undulatus and P. e. buffonii were treated as separate species in the early 20th century.<p>This article follows the six-subspecies model.

Scientific name

Picumnus exilis

Authority

(Lichtenstein, MHC, 1823)

Order

Piciformes

Family

Picidae

Genus

Picumnus

Range and habitat

The subspecies of golden-spangled piculet are found thus:<p>The golden-spangled piculet inhabits a variety of wooded landscapes including rain-, cloud-, and secondary forest. It also occurs in tracts of bamboo, in mangroves, and in open woodland and the edges of savanna. In elevation it ranges from sea level to about 1,900 m (6,200 ft) in the tepui region where Venezuela, Guyana, and Brazil meet.

Migration

Resident species

Behavior

Migration pattern: Resident species.

Conservation

Population trend: declining.

Population trend

declining