White-spotted Woodpecker
Veniliornis spilogaster
Small, noisy woodpecker, common in a variety of forested habitats including urban parks. The body is largely olive-green and heavily barred, including the tail. Note two white stripes above and below the eye and a pale throat. Males have a red crown that is lacking in females.
Identification
The white-spotted woodpecker is 16 to 19.5 cm (6.3 to 7.7 in) long and weighs 35 to 45 g (1.2 to 1.6 oz). Males and females have the same plumage except on their heads. Males have a buffy to olive forehead, a blackish brown crown with very narrow red streaks, and an olive-green hindneck. The female has an olive-brown crown with fine white spots. Adults of both sexes have a mostly brownish face with a thin white supercilium, a thin white "moustache", and white speckles throughout. Their upperparts are mostly olive-green with yellowish to white feather edges that view as bars. Their flight feathers are dark brown with whitish bars. Their tail is dark brown with narrow off-white bars on the feathers. Their underparts are dark olive with heavy yellowish white streaks on the throat, yellowish white bars or spots on the breast, and heavy yellowish white bars on the belly and undertail coverts. The iris is deep chestnut brown, the beak blackish gray with a paler base, and the legs are olive or olive-gray. Males have a longer bill than females. Juveniles are very like adults but with fainter and less regular barring on their upperparts.
Taxonomy
The International Ornithological Committee and BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World place the white-spotted woodpecker in genus Veniliornis. However, starting in 2018, the American Ornithological Society and the Clements taxonomy moved all species of genus Veniliornis into genus Dryobates.<p>The taxonomic systems agree that the white-spotted woodpecker is monotypic.
- Scientific name
- Veniliornis spilogaster
- Authority
- (Wagler, 1827)
- Order
- Piciformes
- Family
- Picidae
- Genus
- Veniliornis
Range and habitat
The white-spotted woodpecker is found from Goiás and Minas Gerais in Brazil south through southeastern Paraguay and most of Uruguay into northeastern Argentina as far as Entre Ríos Province. It inhabits a variety of wooded landscapes including humid lowland forest, gallery forest, isolated patches of forest, open to very open woodland, and lightly wooded parks.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: stable.
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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