Black-cheeked woodpecker

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Black-cheeked woodpecker
Black-cheeked Woodpecker.jpg
Female in Costa Rica
Melanerpes pucherani -Costa Rica -female-8.jpg
Male in Costa Rica

Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification edit
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Piciformes
Family: Picidae
Genus: Melanerpes
Species:
M. pucherani
Binomial name
Melanerpes pucherani
(Malherbe, 1849)
Melanerpes pucherani map.svg

The black-cheeked woodpecker (Melanerpes pucherani) is a resident breeding bird from southeastern Mexico south to western Ecuador.

This woodpecker occurs in the higher levels of wet forests, semi-open woodland and old second growth. It nests in an unlined hole 6–30 m (20–98 ft) high in a dead tree. The clutch is two to four glossy white eggs, incubated by both sexes.

The binomial commemorates the French zoologist Jacques Pucheran.[2]

The black-cheeked woodpecker feeds on insects, but will take substantial quantities of fruit and nectar.[3]

This common and conspicuous species gives a rattling krrrrrl call and both sexes drum on territory.

Description[]

The adult is 18.5 cm (7.3 in) long and weighs 63 g (2.2 oz). It has black upperparts with white barring on the back, white spotting on the wings and a white rump. The tail is black with some white barring, and the underparts are pale buff-olive with a red central belly. There is a black patch through the eyes and on the cheeks, a yellow forehead, and a red nape. The crown is red in the male and black in the female. Young birds are duller, have less white above and less red on the belly.[3]

References[]

  1. ^ BirdLife International (2020). "Melanerpes pucherani". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2020: e.T22680816A152197151. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T22680816A152197151.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 323. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  3. ^ a b Stiles, F. Gary; Skutch, Alexander F. (1989). A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University. pp. 252–253. ISBN 978-0-8014-9600-4.

Further reading[]

  • Skutch, Alexander F. (1969). "Blue-cheeked woodpecker" (PDF). Life Histories of Central American Birds III: Families Cotingidae, Pipridae, Formicariidae, Furnariidae, Dendrocolaptidae, and Picidae. Pacific Coast Avifauna, Number 35. Berkeley, California: Cooper Ornithological Society. pp. 518–521.
Retrieved from ""