Arizona Woodpecker
Dryobates arizonae
This brown woodpecker is restricted to western Mexico; barely enters the U.S. in southern Arizona. Face pattern similar to Hairy Woodpecker but brown instead of black. Back is entirely brown with no white. Males show small red patch on back of head, absent on females. Brown spots and bars on underparts. Found in mountainous oak forest. Makes a squeaky "peek" call.
Identification
Arizona woodpeckers are nearly identical to Strickland's woodpeckers, growing to be about 7 to 8 inches (18 to 20 cm) in length. Their plumage is mainly brown and white in coloration, brown on top with a dark rump with white underparts speckled with brown spots. Arizona woodpeckers usually have white bars on their wings, and have two white stripes across their face which join with another white bar on their neck. Male Arizona woodpeckers also have a red patch on the nape of their head which is lacking on females.<p>The call of the Arizona woodpecker is a sharp, squeaky keech, and this species also gives a rattle call of descending, grating notes.
Taxonomy
This species is known in older field guides as a subspecies of Strickland's woodpecker. The 42nd supplement of the American Ornithologists Union checklist officially split Strickland's woodpecker into two species: the northern population in the Sierra Madre Occidental region (Arizona, L. arizonae) and the southern population in central Mexico (Strickland's, L. stricklandi). Some taxonomic authorities, including the American Ornithological Society, continue to place this species in the genus Picoides.
- Scientific name
- Dryobates arizonae
- Authority
- (Hargitt, 1886)
- Order
- Piciformes
- Family
- Picidae
- Genus
- Dryobates
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Red-billed Oxpecker
Buphagus erythroryncha
A bulbul-sized olive-brown bird that sports a diagnostic all-red bill and a red eye surrounded by a fleshy yellow wattle. The juvenile lacks the bright bill and eye coloration. Small groups occur in savanna and farmland, where they require large wild ungulates and domestic stock to forage on; they clamber agilely over host mammals, gleaning ticks, mites, and other ectoparasites, and occasionally drinking host blood. As they fly between large mammals, they give a distinctive “tsik-tsik” call. The similar Yellow-billed Oxpecker differs from Red-billed Oxpecker by having a yellow bill base and pale rump and lacking an eye-wattle.
White-browed Hermit
Phaethornis stuarti
Small, orangey hermit of Andean foothills. Orange below, with a black mask, white eyebrow, and green back. Extremely similar to the Reddish Hermit; where they overlap they are typically not separable in the field. White-browed Hermit occupies higher elevations around the base of the Andes than Reddish Hermit, which is found in the lowlands. Sings at leks around the understory of mature rainforest, a repeated accelerating series of high "seet" notes.
Crowned Eagle
Stephanoaetus coronatus
A large, boldly-marked, crested eagle with a long tail and broad wings, resembling a massive goshawk. The underparts of the adult are blotched and barred black-and-white; there is also a variable rufous wash across the breast. The pale immature has creamy-tan underwings. It is resident in thicker woodland and lowland, montane, and riverine forest, where it hunts monkeys and other small-to-medium-sized vertebrates. It has an undulating display flight coupled with a loud “wheee-yooo, wheee-yooo, wheee-yooo” call that often draws attention. Juvenile Crowned and Martial eagles are similar, but the Crowned has buffier underparts (and underwings), spotted flanks, and broader bars on the tail.
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