Hoffmann's Woodpecker
Melanerpes hoffmannii
Medium-sized woodpecker with bold black-and-white barring on back and a cream-colored belly. A patch of yellow on the lower belly can be difficult to see. Male has red crown and yellow nape. Female lacks red crown. Distinctive in range, but hybridizes with Red-crowned Woodpecker; hybrids best left unidentified. Found in open woodland, edges, and gardens.
Identification
Hoffmann's woodpecker is 18 to 21 cm (7.1 to 8.3 in) long and weighs 62 to 84 g (2.2 to 3.0 oz). The sexes' plumage is alike except for their head pattern. Adult males have a dull white forecrown and supercilium, a bright red crown, and a bright yellow or orange nape. Adult females have a dull white crown and a pale yellow nape. Both sexes' faces and the sides of their throat are drab yellowish gray. Their back and upper rump are barred black and white and the lower rump and uppertail coverts are unbarred white. Their flight feathers are black with white bars throughout and some white spots. Their tail is black with some white on most of the feathers. The sides of their throat and breast are drab yellowish gray, their chin, throat, and breast are dull grayish to yellowish white, and their central belly is bright yellow. Their flanks and undertail coverts are dull yellowish white with black bars. Their bill is black, their iris hazel, and their legs bluish gray to gray.
Taxonomy
Hoffmann's woodpecker was originally described in genus Centurus. Some authors have treated it as a subspecies of the golden-fronted woodpecker (M. aurifrons), and the two hybridize in the north of Hoffmann's range. Hoffmann's also hybridizes with the red-crowned woodpecker (M. rubricapilus) in the south.<p>Hoffmann's woodpecker is monotypic.<p>The species is named for the German naturalist Karl Hoffmann.[citation needed]
- Scientific name
- Melanerpes hoffmannii
- Authority
- (Cabanis, 1862)
- Order
- Piciformes
- Family
- Picidae
- Genus
- Melanerpes
Range and habitat
Hoffmann's woodpecker is found from southwestern Honduras' Choluteca Department through Nicaragua on the Pacific slope to central Costa Rica. There is also one record from El Salvador. The species inhabits dry and deciduous forests and more open areas such as shade coffee plantations, urban parks, and house gardens. In elevation it ranges from sea level to 400 m (1,300 ft) in Honduras, to 800 m (2,600 ft) in Nicaragua, and to more than 2,100 m (6,900 ft) in Costa Rica.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Hoffmann's woodpecker is a year-round resident throughout its range.<p>Hoffmann's woodpecker typically forages from the forest understory to its canopy, though it has been observed feeding on the ground. Its diet is mostly arthropods that it extracts from decaying trunks and branches. It also feeds on a variety of fruits and takes nectar from large flowers. It occasionally eats the eggs of other birds. <p>The breeding season of Hoffmann's woodpecker spans at least from January to July and typically two broods are raised. Both sexes excavate the nest cavity in soft dead wood, living palms, or fence posts. The cavity is typically between 1 and 6 m (3 and 20 ft) above the ground, and both sexes aggressively defend it from other Hoffmann's woodpeckers and tityras. The clutch size is two or three eggs. Both parents incubate the clutch and provision nestlings. The incubation period and time to fledging are not known.<p>The most common Hoffmann's woodpecker call is "churrr", made by both sexes. They also make "a querulous, grating, woick-a woick-a woick-a... or wicka wicka wicka." The species usually drums on dead wood but has been observed drumming on metal structures.
Conservation
- Population trend
- rising
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Superb Starling
Lamprotornis superbus
A chunky, short-tailed, colorful savanna starling. Note the white chest band, white undertail, and white patch on the underwing, conspicuous in flight. Immatures have a dark eye and lack a breast band, but are usually associated with adults. Found in a variety of dry or moderately moist habitats including savanna, woodland, thorn scrub, and villages, usually in small flocks, sometimes with other species of starlings. Similar to Hildebrandt’s and Shelley’s Starlings, but easily separated by the white breast band. The calls include a variety of scolds and squeals.
Red-cheeked Cordonbleu
Uraeginthus bengalus
Slim, long-tailed, pretty waxbill. The upperparts are pale brown and the underparts and tail blue. Males have a distinctive magenta mark on the cheek. Generally common in a wide variety of open habitat, including dry thornscrub, all types of savanna, villages, and cultivation. Usually in pairs or small flocks. The common call is a high-pitched “tsee-tsee.” In the area of overlap, females are very difficult to separate from Southern Cordonbleu. They tend to show more extensive brown on the cheek, but are most safely identified by association with red-cheeked males.
White-headed Vulture
Trigonoceps occipitalis
A medium-sized, mostly dark vulture with an angular, naked, pale pink head and bulky coral-colored beak. In flight, the adult’s white “armpits” extend out as a stripe along the middle of the underwing; the larger females differ from males by having all-white innermost flight feathers. Widespread in open country but declining rapidly outside of protected areas. Often one of the first vultures to arrive at a carcass but also scavenges the kills of eagles; sometimes hunts and kills small mammals, birds, and reptiles.
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