Guayaquil Woodpecker
Campephilus gayaquilensis
Large woodpecker found in both dry and humid forest in western Ecuador, northwestern Peru, and far southwestern Colombia. Note red head, white “V” on black back, white neck stripes, and barred lower underparts. On female, white neck stripe extends to beak. Similar to Lineated Woodpecker, but Guyaquil Woodpecker’s back stripes converge in a “V”, and it lacks a dark mask around the eye. Often perches on dead trees, and periodically pounds out a loud, powerful burst of knocks.
Identification
The Guayaquil woodpecker is 32 to 34 cm (13 to 13 in) long and weighs 230 to 253 g (8.1 to 8.9 oz). Both sexes' upperparts are black from their neck to upper back; their lower back to the uppertail coverts is barred with whitish buff and blackish. Their neck has white stripes on the side that continue onto the upper back and meet as a "V". Their wings' upper surface is brownish black to black; the flight feathers are browner with small cinnamon or buff spots on their inner webs. The underside of the wings' feathers are white with brown tips and trailing edges and pale cinnamon bases on the primaries. Their tail is dark brown to black-brown. Their throat and upper breast are black and the rest of their underparts whitish buff to pale cinnamon-buff with browish black bars. Adult males have an entirely red head with a small black and white spot on the ear coverts. Adult females do not have the covert spot. They do have a wide creamy stripe with black edges that extends from the bill to the ear coverts and bends down to meet the white neck stripe. The adult's bill is a long grayish chisel with a paler mandible, their iris pale yellow, and their legs gray-brown to greenish gray. Juveniles resemble adults but have less barring on the rump and underparts; males' heads resemble the adult female's and females have more black than they do as adults.
Taxonomy
The Guayaquil woodpecker was for a time placed in genus Scapaneus that was later merged into genus Phloeoceastes that was itself merged into the current genus Campephilus. The Guayaquil woodpecker is monotypic.
- Scientific name
- Campephilus gayaquilensis
- Authority
- (Lesson, RP, 1845)
- Order
- Piciformes
- Family
- Picidae
- Genus
- Campephilus
Range and habitat
The Guayaquil woodpecker is found from southwestern Colombia's Cauca Department south through Ecuador west of the Andes into northwestern Peru's Department of Cajamarca. It inhabits the interior and edges of dry to humid deciduous forest and also mature secondary forest. In elevation it ranges as high as 1,100 m (3,600 ft) in Colombia and 1,500 m (4,900 ft) in Ecuador and Peru, but there mostly below 800 m (2,600 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The Guayaquil woodpecker is a year-round resident throughout its range.<p>The Guayaquil woodpecker often forages in pairs, and usually in the forest canopy. Its diet has not been documented but is likely similar to that of the closely related crimson-crested woodpecker (C. melanoleucos), which see here.<p>The Guayaquil woodpecker's breeding season has not been defined but includes at least October and May. Nothing else is known about its breeding biology.<p>The Guayaquil woodpecker's most common call is "a liquid, rolling “kwi-kwi-kwe-rrrrrrr”". When excited it utters "“kwik-kwik-kwikerrr” and “kik-kwiddit” notes". Its drum is "a one-second long roll comprising 4–7 strikes (typically six), the first loud and forceful, the rest weaker".
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Long-billed Bernieria
Bernieria madagascariensis
Large, long-tailed, long-billed, dull-olive tetraka. Madagascar endemic that is found in rainforest, dry deciduous forest, and locally in spiny forest. Prefers the mid-story, and often joins mixed flocks with tetrakas and other birds. Song is a fairly musical phrase of up-and-down whistles. Call is a rough “trek-trak”. Separated from tetrakas by its larger size and its longer bill and tail. Doesn’t have the pale eye-ring of Spectacled Tetraka or the gray head of Gray-crowned Tetraka. Much more olive-colored than brush-warblers.
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Melanerpes aurifrons
Medium-sized woodpecker, plain buffy-brown overall with black-and-white barring on the back. Head pattern varies across range but usually shows some combination of yellow and red. Most males on the Caribbean slope of Mexico and into Central America have a solidly red crown and nape. In flight, look for white rump. Common and conspicuous in open woodlands, deciduous forest, and arid scrub from Texas and Oklahoma south to Nicaragua. Often the default woodpecker close to human settlements. Visits backyards and feeders, especially for oranges and jelly. Hybridizes with Red-bellied Woodpecker at the northern limits of its range and with Hoffmann’s Woodpecker at the southern limits. Also compare with the smaller Yucatan Woodpecker.
Ash-throated Casiornis
Casiornis fuscus
Large rufous flycatcher with a slight crest, a cinnamon back, dusky flight feathers, and buff underparts. Inhabits wooded caatinga (dry scrubby forest) in the breeding season, with migrants also found in Cerrado and Amazonian savannas and light woodland in the non-breeding season. The similar Rufous Casiornis has a rufous back, the same color as the wings.
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