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Crimson-crested Woodpecker | Campephilus melanoleucos
Zwartkeelspecht | Carpintero marcial
The Crimson-crested Woodpecker is a large woodpecker with a red head and crest that ranges from Panama to northern Argentina. In the guide area it lives in the lowlands and foothills of Panama. It can be recognised by its black throat, pale bill and the white stripes that form a V on the back.
Voice
Drums with a powerful double knock. Calls a nasal, harsh skweeh and a fast rattling series kekekeke.
Recording: JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · shortened to the first 60 s, mono · xeno-canto
Identification
33–38 cm. Head and crest red, the throat black. The male has a dirty-white patch at the base of the bill and a small black-and-white spot on the ear coverts; the female has a black forehead and front of the crest and a broad white stripe from the base of the bill across the cheek. In both sexes a white stripe runs from the cheek down the neck to the back, where the stripes meet in a V. Upperparts otherwise black, underparts ochre-buff with black barring. The bill is long and horn-coloured to ivory white.
Confusion species
Pale-billed Woodpecker Campephilus guatemalensis (western Panama) has an all-red head with a red throat in the male, without a white cheek stripe. Lineated Woodpecker Dryocopus lineatus has a dark bill, a streaked throat, a white stripe from the base of the bill and white back stripes that do not meet.
Habitat
Humid and semi-humid lowland and foothill forest up to about 1000 m, especially at forest edges, in open woodland and tall secondary forest, gallery forest and pasture with large trees. It usually forages in pairs on large trunks and thick branches for beetle larvae.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
In the guide area in Panama: common in the lowlands from the Canal Area east through Panamá province and Guna Yala to Darién, scarcer west on the Pacific side to Coclé, Veraguas and Chiriquí and on the Caribbean side to Bocas del Toro. Outside the guide area in South America south to northern Argentina.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Regularly seen along Pipeline Road (Camino del Oleoducto) in Soberanía and in the Parque Natural Metropolitano in Panama City. The double-knock drum carries far.
Conservation status
Not threatened. It can persist in semi-open country with large trees but disappears where no old or dead trees are left standing.
Scientific name
Campephilus melanoleucos | (Gmelin, 1788)
Gmelin described the species in 1788 as Picus melanoleucos; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Campephilus was introduced in 1840 by Gray. Campephilus is Greek, from kampē 'caterpillar' and philos 'loving': 'caterpillar-lover', after its diet of insect larvae. melanoleucos is Greek, from melas 'black' and leukos 'white', after the black-and-white plumage. The specimen the first description was based on came from Suriname.