Red-crowned woodpecker
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Red-crowned woodpecker | |
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female M. r. rubricapillus, Columbia | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Piciformes |
Family: | Picidae |
Genus: | Melanerpes |
Species: | M. rubricapillus
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Binomial name | |
Melanerpes rubricapillus (Cabanis, 1862)
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The red-crowned woodpecker (Melanerpes rubricapillus) is a resident breeding bird from southwestern Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas and Tobago.[2]
Description[]
The adult is 17 cm (6.7 in) long and weighs 55 g (1.9 oz). It has a zebra-barred black and white back and wings and a white rump. The tail is black with some white barring, and the underparts are pale buff-brown. The male has a red crown patch and nape. The female has a buff crown and duller nape. Immature birds are duller, particularly in the red areas of the head and neck.[3]
Although this species is very similar in appearance to the golden-fronted woodpecker (Melanerpes aurifrons) and the Yucatan woodpecker (Melanerpes pygmaeus), its distribution does not overlap with either of these species.
Distribution and habitat[]
This woodpecker occurs in forests and semi-open woodland and cultivation. It nests in a hole in a dead tree or large cactus. The clutch is two eggs, incubated by both sexes, which fledge after 31–33 days.
Diet[]
Red-crowned woodpeckers feed on insects, but will take fruit and visit nectar feeders.
This common and conspicuous species gives a rattling krrrrrl call and both sexes drum on territory.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ^ BirdLife International (2020). "Melanerpes rubricapillus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2020: e.T22680850A168646628. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T22680850A168646628.en. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
- ^ Lepage, Denis (2021). "Red-crowned Woodpecker Melanerpes rubricapillus (Cabanis, 1862)". Avibase - The World Bird Database. Port Rowan, Ontario: Birds Canada. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
- ^ Stiles, F. Gary; Skutch, Alexander F. (1989). A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University. pp. 253–254. ISBN 978-0-8014-9600-4.
- Hilty, Steven L. (2003). Birds of Venezuela. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-7136-6418-5.
- ffrench, Richard; O'Neill, John Patton; Eckelberry, Don R. (1991). A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago (2nd ed.). Ithaca, N.Y.: Comstock Publishing. ISBN 0-8014-9792-2.
Further reading[]
- Skutch, Alexander F. (1969). "Red-crowned 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. 461–478.
External links[]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Melanerpes rubricapillus. |
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Wikispecies has information related to Melanerpes rubricapillus. |
- "Red-crowned woodpecker media". Internet Bird Collection.
- Red-crowned woodpecker Stamps from Venezuela at bird-stamps.org
- Red-crowned woodpecker photo gallery at VIREO (Drexel University)
- Red-crowned woodpecker species account at Neotropical Birds (Cornell Lab of Ornithology)
- Interactive range map of Melanerpes rubricapillus at IUCN Red List maps
- Audio recordings of Red-crowned woodpecker on Xeno-canto.
- IUCN Red List least concern species
- Melanerpes
- Birds of Costa Rica
- Birds of Panama
- Birds of Colombia
- Birds of Venezuela
- Birds described in 1862
- Taxa named by Jean Cabanis