Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Scientific Name: Picoides scalaris

Range / Habitat: Year-round in arid, desert areas of southwestern US and northern Mexico where it forages and nests in cacti.

Field Notes: Small black and white woodpecker with barring complete across its back and spotting on chest. Males with red crown. Downy Woodpecker with smaller bill length relative to head, white stripe down back and clear underparts.

Personal Notes: Seen in Joshua Tree National Park.

Acorn Woodpecker

Scientific Name: Melanerpes formicivorus

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year round in oak and mixed oak-conifer forests on slopes and mountains in the western US down into Mexico and Central America.

Field Notes: Unmistakable in range. As Cornell's All About Birds puts it: "Reminiscent of a troupe of wide-eyed clowns."

Personal Notes: Frequently seen in Ramsey Canyon Preserve, Hereford AZ. Later we found a large group at West Fork SP near Sedona. They were all calling softly to one another as they settled down in several large trees for the night.

Gila Woodpecker

Scientific Name: Melanerpes uropygialis

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in southern Arizona, the Baja Peninsula, and western Mexico. Favors arid habitats with large cacti or scattered trees,

Field Notes: Medium-sized woodpecker, all brown head and chest, wings barred black and white. Male with red spot on forehead.

Personal Notes: Seen at Sonora Desert Museum outside Tucson AZ.

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Scientific Name: Dendrocopos Major

Population Estimate: 73.5 - 216B

Range / Habitat: Resident in temperate forest throughout Europe and northern Asia.

Field Notes: Medium-sized black and white woodpecker with a black line which zigzags from the shoulder halfway across the breast, then back to the nape; a black stripe, extending from the bill, runs below the eye to meet this latter part of the zigzag line. Large white shoulder patch, barred flight feathers. Undertail coverts red. Males have a crimson spot on the nape, which is absent in females and juvenile birds. Syrian Woodpecker similar but less well-developed zigzag stripe on the neck. White-winged Woodpecker also similar but with far more extensive white wing patch.

Personal Notes: A welcome sound and sight after nearly a year in New Zealand without woodpeckers.

American Three-toed Woodpecker

Scientific Name: Picoides dorsalis

Population Estimate: 800K

Range / Habitat: Year-round in boreal and montane coniferous forests across all of North America

Field Notes: Medium-sized black-and-white woodpecker, more black than white. Head black with a white mustache stripe and a thin white line behind eye. Yellow cap in male. Throat, breast, belly and midline of back white. Black barring on flanks. Black-backed Woodpecker with all black back. Hairy Woodpecker with more white on face, no barring on flanks, red cap in male.

Personal Notes: Seen in the Laramie Mountains (Medicine Bow National Forest).

Fiery-billed Aracari

Scientific Name: Pteroglossus frantzii

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Endemic to tropical lowland moist forest in central and southern Pacific slope of Costa Rica and Panama.

Field Notes: Medium-sized toucan with bright red upper mandible. Quite similar to Collared Aracari, though range does not overlap in Costa Rica and bill readily distinguishes between the two.

Personal Notes: Seen at Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

Black-mandibled Toucan

Scientific Name: Ramphastos ambiguus

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Tropical lowland and montane moist forest in Central America and northwestern South America.

Field Notes: Large toucan with bicoloured yellow and dark bill. Easily distinguished from Keel-billed Toucan.

Personal Notes: Seen en route from Carara NP to Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica. Some sources consider this bird a distinct species, Chestnut-mandibled Toucan.

Black-cheeked Woodpecker

Scientific Name: Melanerpes pucherani

Population Estimate: 50-500K

Range / Habitat: Subtropical / tropical lowland moist forest in southern Mexico, Central America, and northwestern South America.

Field Notes: Medium-sized woodpecker with red nape in both male and female, black cheek and white postocular spot. Yellow tuft at base of bill. Black and white ladder pattern on back. Light grey horizontal stripes on belly. Similar to Golden-naped Woodpecker but no range overlap.

Personal Notes: Seen at Arenal Nayara Hotel, Costa Rica

Hoffmann's Woodpecker

Scientific Name: Melanerpes hoffmannii

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Subtropical / tropical dry forest in a wide range of altitudes (up to 2100m) in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras.

Field Notes: Medium-sized woodpecker with yellow nape in both male and female, plain white face, neck and belly. Yellow tuft at base of bill. Males with red crown. Similar to Red-crowned Woodpecker, but nape and belly help distinguish.

Personal Notes: Seen en route from Monteverde to Cararas National Park, Costa Rica

Red-crowned Woodpecker

Scientific Name: Melanerpes rubricapillus

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Lowland dry forest in Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, and Trinidad and Tobago

Field Notes: Medium-sized woodpecker with plain white face, neck and chest. Black and white ladder back. Males with distinctive red crown and nape. Females with subtle red nape only. Red belly patch in both sexes, which is often difficult to see. Hoffmann's Woodpecker has yellow nape in both sexes.

Personal Notes: Seen at Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

Olivaceous Piculet

Scientific Name: Picumnus olivaceus

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Subtropical / tropical lowland and montane moist forest in Central American and northwestern South America.

Field Notes: Very small (4”) woodpecker with olive back, black speckled head, and black tail with white central rectrices.

Personal Notes: Seen at Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

Lineated Woodpecker

Scientific Name: Dryocopus lineatus

Population Estimate: 5M to 50M

Range / Habitat: Year-round on both slopes of Mexico, through Central America and into northern Argentina in South America. It prefers lowland moist shrubland but is found in a variety of wooded habitats.

Field Notes: Large woodpecker with bright red crested head, plain black back, white stripe contiguous from bill down neck and sides. Belly is barred black and white. Larger Pale-billed Woodpecker lacks white stripe extending to the face, instead it forms a complete "V" in the back.

Emerald Toucanet

Scientific Name: Aulacorhynchus prasinus

Population Estimate: 50K to 500K

Range / Habitat: Prefers tropical and subtropical higher-elevation moist forest, from southern Mexico, through Central America, to northern Venezuela and along the Andes as far south as central Bolivia.

Field Notes: Unmistakable as above.

Personal Notes: One of the highlights of our trip to Tikal.

Keel-billed Toucan

Scientific Name: Ramphastos sulfuratus

Population Estimate: 40K to 500K

Range / Habitat: Tropical and subtropical lowland moist forest from southeastern Mexico through Central America.

Field Notes: Unmistakable bird with large, rainbow colored bill. Distinctive in flight as well due to the bill.

Personal Notes: National bird of Belize. We spotted it in a variety of habitats: a papaya tree in a farmer's field (above), lowland forests and scrub forests just outside of roadside villages.

White-whiskered Puffbird

Scientific Name: Malacoptila panamensis

Population Estimate: 50K - 500K

Range / Habitat: Resident breeding species in lowland forest from southern Mexico through Central America, into northern South America.

Field Notes: Typical puffbird posture as above. Chunky birds with relatively long tail, held closed. They sit motionless and silent for long periods of time and are frequently overlooked. Plumage of this species unmistakable for others in this range.

Personal Notes: Seen at Aquacate, Belize and Cararo National Park, CR.

Rufous-tailed Jacamar

Scientific Name: Galbula ruficauda

Population Estimate: 500K-5M

Range / Habitat: Resident of southeast Mexico through Central America. Into South America as far as southern Brazil. Preferred habitat is subtropical and tropical lowland moist forest.

Field Notes: Jacamars are elegant birds with long bills and tails. This is the only jacamar in Mexico / Central America and so unmistakable in this range. Can be quite noisy. As with other jacamars, nests in holes in the ground.

Personal Notes: Seen several times (along with several howler monkeys) in a central Belize lowland forest with a lot of blowdown from hurricane Richard and, sadly, a fair amount of illegal logging. We saw this species a second time in Arenal Hanging Gardens, a female seen sitting on a nest at the end of a long hole in the ground.

Collared Aracari

Scientific Name: Pteroglossus torquatus

Population Estimate: 500K to 5M

Range / Habitat: Resident throughout Mexico, Central America, and northern South America, primarily in lowland forest.

Field Notes: Unmistakable in range, as above.

Personal Notes: We were fortunate to see many of these birds at Chaa Creek resort in the jungle of Belize. They were feasting on palm fruits which happened to be ripe the week we were there. We saw them again at Nayara Hotel at Arenal, where they were much more retiring.

Red-naped Sapsucker

Scientific Name: Sphyrapicus nuchalis

Population Estimate: 2.2M

Range / Habitat: Moves throughout the lower elevations of mixed forest in western mountains of North America. Summer up to western Canadian Rockies, winter down to mountain regions in southern Mexico.

Field Notes: Woodpecker stance, but known to be sapsucker by white stripe down length of body. Very similar appearance to Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (red cap and throat, yellow belly), but little overlap in distribution. Per Sibley, Red-naped Sapsucker with two distinct columns of barring on the back, as in the top photos.

Personal Notes: Wonderful patience on Richard's part to get these photos. As so frequently happens, this bird was found in the wilds of a campground parking lot.

Golden-cheeked Woodpecker

Scientific Name: Melanerpes chrysogenys

Population Estimate: 50K to 500K

Location of Sighting: Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Date of Sighting: January, 2010

Notes: Medium-sized woodpecker endemic to Western Mexico. Like many other woodpecker species, the male has a red tuft on his head (top photo) whereas the female does not (bottom photo). You can see the golden cheek in the female as well.

Golden-olive Woodpecker

Scientific Name: Colaptes rubiginosus
 

Population Estimate:500K to5M

Range / Habitat: Latin America : Mexico to Guyana, Northwest Peru and Northwest Argentina.

Field Notes: Adults are mainly golden olive above with some barring on the tail. The forecrown is grey, and the hindcrown red. The face is yellow-white and the underparts are barred black and yellowish. The bill is black. Adult males have a red moustachial strip which is lacking in the female.

Personal Notes: