Black-cheeked woodpecker

The black-cheeked woodpecker and several others were for a time placed in genus Tripsurus. It and the golden-naped woodpecker (M. chrysauchen) form a superspecies.^[3] The black-cheeked woodpecker is monotypic^[2] but assigning it two subspecies has sometimes been proposed.^[4]

The black-cheeked woodpecker's specific epithet commemorates the French zoologist Jacques Pucheran.^[5]

The black-cheeked woodpecker is 17 to 19 cm (6.7 to 7.5 in) long and weighs 42 to 68 g (1.5 to 2.4 oz). The sexes' plumage is alike except for their head pattern. Adult males have a golden yellow forehead and a red crown and nape. Adult females have a white to buffy white forehead, a black central crown, and a red hindcrown and nape. Both sexes have black around the eye that extends down the side of the neck and a white line behind the eye. Their upper back has black and white bars and their lower back and uppertail coverts are white with a pale buff tinge and sometimes some blackish bars. Their flight feathers are black or brownish black with narrow white tips and white bars throughout. Their tail is black with some white bars on the central pair of feathers. Their lores, cheeks, chin, and upper throat are whitish. Their lower throat and breast are olive-buff with a gray tinge and the rest of their underparts are buffish white with strong wavy bars and a red spot in the center of the belly; their undertail coverts are yellow-brown. Their bill is longish and black with a paler base to its mandible, their iris is brown, the bare skin around the eye brown to grayish, and the legs greenish gray to olive. Juveniles are duller and browner than adults, with more diffuse barring and a smaller and paler red spot on the belly. The male's nape is orangey red; females have much less red than adults on their crown.^[4]

The black-cheeked woodpecker is found from Veracruz and Chiapas in southern Mexico south on the Caribbean slope into Costa Rica and from there on both slopes in Panama through western Colombia and western Ecuador slightly into Peru.^[6][7][4]

The black-cheeked woodpecker inhabits the interior and edges of humid to wet evergreen forest, mature secondary forest and abandoned plantations, and clearings with scattered trees. It sometimes occurs in gardens, even those far from forest. In elevation it is mostly found between 700 and 900 m (2,300 and 3,000 ft) but occasionally occurs up to 1,200 m (3,900 ft) and, in Ecuador, locally as high as 1,500 m (4,900 ft).^[4]

Discover more about Distribution and habitat related topics

Veracruz

Veracruz

Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. Located in eastern Mexico, Veracruz is bordered by seven states, which are Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, Hidalgo, Puebla, Oaxaca, Chiapas, and Tabasco. Veracruz is divided into 212 municipalities, and its capital city is Xalapa-Enríquez.

Chiapas

Chiapas

Chiapas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas, is one of the states that make up the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises 124 municipalities as of September 2017 and its capital and largest city is Tuxtla Gutiérrez. Other important population centers in Chiapas include Ocosingo, Tapachula, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Comitán, and Arriaga. Chiapas is the southernmost state in Mexico, and it borders the states of Oaxaca to the west, Veracruz to the northwest, and Tabasco to the north, and the Petén, Quiché, Huehuetenango, and San Marcos departments of Guatemala to the east and southeast. Chiapas has a significant coastline on the Pacific Ocean to the southwest.

Evergreen forest

Evergreen forest

An evergreen forest is a forest made up of evergreen trees. They occur across a wide range of climatic zones, and include trees such as conifers and holly in cold climates, eucalyptus, Live oak, acacias, magnolia, and banksia in more temperate zones, and rainforest trees in tropical zones.

Secondary forest

Secondary forest

A secondary forest is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. It is distinguished from an old-growth forest, which has not recently undergone such disruption, and complex early seral forest, as well as third-growth forests that result from harvest in second growth forests. Secondary forest regrowing after timber harvest differs from forest regrowing after natural disturbances such as fire, insect infestation, or windthrow because the dead trees remain to provide nutrients, structure, and water retention after natural disturbances. However, often after natural disturbance the timber is harvested and removed from the system, in which case the system more closely resembles secondary forest rather than seral forest.

Movement

The black-cheeked woodpecker is a year-round resident throughout its range.^[4]

Feeding

The black-cheeked woodpecker feeds on a very wide variety of arthropods including spiders, beetles, ants, and aerial insects. It also eats much plant material such as fruits, berries, seeds, and catkins, and takes nectar from large flowers in trees. It typically forages singly or in pairs though groups sometimes gather at trees with fruit. It also joins mixed species foraging flocks. It usually forages from the forest's midlevel to the crown, probing, pecking, gleaning, and hawking. It is very active and agile, sometimes clinging to the underside of branches.^[4]

Breeding

The black-cheeked woodpecker's breeding season is from March to July. It excavates a nest hole in a dead trunk or branch, typically between 4 and 30 m (15 and 100 ft) above the ground. Both sexes incubate the clutch of two to four eggs. The incubation period is 14 days and fledging occurs about three weeks after hatch.^[4]

Vocal and non-vocal sounds

The black-cheeked woodpecker's most common call is "a series of c. 4 short rattling trills on same pitch, 'churrr, churrr, churrr, churrr' or 'cherrr'." It also makes a "longer smoother rattle", a "loud full-toned 'krrrr'", and a "higher-pitched piercing 'chirriree' or 'keereereek'." Both sexes drum, but not frequently.^[4]

The IUCN has assessed the black-cheeked woodpecker as being of Least Concern. It has a very large range and an estimated population of at least 50,000 mature individuals, though the latter is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified.^[1] It occurs in several protected areas, but "[n]umbers decline with extensive deforestation."^[4]