Hispaniolan Woodpecker
Melanerpes striatus
A noisy and gregarious woodpecker that inhabits most wooded habitats. It is a striking species with a bold yellow-and-black barred back, a red crown, and a gray face with staring yellow eye. In flight, note the bright red rump. No similar species occur in its range. Vocalizations include a squeaky "wick, wick, wick, wick…", a sputtering "du-du-du-du-du...", and a squeaky, sometimes drawn out, whinny.
Identification
The Hispaniolan woodpecker is a gold and black barred bird growing to a length of from 22 to 28 cm (8.7 to 11.0 in). The adult male has a red crown and nape and is larger than the female, with a longer beak. The upper neck is striped black and white and the back and wings are boldly striped in black and gold. The rump is greenish-yellow, with some red on the feather tips, and the upper side of the tail is black with red upper-tail coverts. The underside of the wings is greyish-brown with pale spotting and barring, and the underside of the tail is grey or olive. The fore-crown is grey or buff, the face and throat are grey and the underparts are buff, brown or olive, with some dark streaking on the flanks. The iris is yellow, the beak is long, slender, and grey, and the legs are grey. The adult female is similar to the male but has a black crown and red nape. The juvenile has a black crown with white and red spotting, an orange nape, and dark iris.<p>This woodpecker is quite vocal, emitting a range of sounds including yapping, squeaking, rolling and nasal calls. Drumming is done only occasionally.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Melanerpes striatus
- Authority
- (Müller, PLS, 1776)
- Order
- Piciformes
- Family
- Picidae
- Genus
- Melanerpes
Range and habitat
It is found in both Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It is mostly a woodland bird. Its range extends through many of Hispaniola's biomes: wet, dry, broadleaf, and coniferous forests, but also occurs in plantations, cactus scrub, mangrove areas, swamps, grasslands, palm groves, wooded agricultural areas, and urban parks.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
This woodpecker forages in small noisy groups; the diet is varied and includes insects, spiders, scorpions, lizards, fruit, seeds, grain and sap. It can catch flying insects in flight, and larger food items are bashed on an "anvil" to break them up.<p>Unlike most woodpeckers, the Hispaniolan woodpecker is a social species that takes advantage of having a large number of individual adult birds in the colony to protect a nesting bank or tree. There may be twenty pairs of birds in a colony, with several nesting in the same tree. The nests are excavated in trunks and branches, and discarded holes are reused by Hispaniolan amazons, Hispaniolan parakeets, Hispaniolan trogons, Antillean piculets, and the golden swallow.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Pnoepyga albiventer
Adorable tiny bird that loosely resembles a minute tailless wren. Warm dark brown above with rufous overtones, and scaled below; pale-morph birds have white edgings to black “scales,” while dark-morph birds have edgings that are coffee-stain tan. Smaller Pygmy Cupwing lacks the tan spots speckling the crown and neck of Scaly-breasted. Scaly-breasted inhabits dark, damp areas in dense forest, often around boulders, streams, and ravines. Song is a jumbled series of high-pitched melodic warbles, notably more complex than the song of Pygmy Cupwing.
Rock Sparrow
Petronia petronia
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Pygarrhichas albogularis
Distinctive little bird of native temperate forests. Usually found in pairs or small groups, creeping along trunks and branches (like Northern Hemisphere nuthatches), mainly in canopy but sometimes lower down. Often travels in association with Thorn-tailed Rayaditos. Identified by shape and behavior, plus its contrasting white bib, dark head (lacks golden brow of rayadito), and bold white spots on belly.
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