Crimson-crested Woodpecker

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iCrimson-crested Woodpecker

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Piciformes
Family:	Picidae
Genus:	Campephilus
Species:	C. melanoleucos

Binomial name

Campephilus melanoleucos
(Gmelin, 1788)

The Crimson-crested Woodpecker (Campephilus melanoleucos) is a very large woodpecker which is a resident breeding bird from Panama south to northern Argentina, and on Trinidad.

The habitat of this species is forests and more open woodland. Two white eggs are laid in a nest hole is in a dead tree and incubated by both sexes.

The Crimson-crested Woodpecker is 36 cm long and weighs 250g. It resembles the Pileated Woodpecker of North America, but within its range the confusion species is the Lineated Woodpecker.

Adults are mainly black above, with a red crest and white lines down the sides of the black throat and shoulders, which meet in a V on the back. The underparts are white, heavily barred with black. They show white on the wings in flight.

Adult males have a red line from the bill to the throat and red on the front of the crown. In adult females, these plumage features are black.

The Lineated Woodpecker is the only bird of similar plumage and size. In that species, the white face line is narrower, and the white shoulder lines do not meet on the back.

Crimson-crested Woodpeckers chip out holes, often quite large, while searching out insects in trees. They mainly eat insects, including beetle larvae, with some berries.

The call of this widespread but wary bird is a loud, ringing CHEE-sic. Both sexes drum.

[edit] References

BirdLife International (2004). Campephilus melanoleucos. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
Birds of Venezuela by Hilty, ISBN 0-7136-6418-5
Birds of Trinidad and Tobago by ffrench, ISBN 0-7136-6759-1