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White-barred Piculet - BirdForum Opus

Male
Photo © by Daveash
Buzios, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Picumnus cirratus

Identification

10cm. A tiny woodpecker.

  • Black top of head with white feather tips, male with broad red feather tips on crown forming a solid red patch
  • White to buffish nasal tufts
  • Dark buff-brown cheeks and ear-coverts, faintly blackish barred, bordered by white stripe behind eye
  • Blackish barred buff moustachial area and neck sides
  • Dull brownish upperparts, sometimes faintly barred
  • White underparts heavily blackish barred

Juveniles are duller and darker.

Female
Photo © by Luiz
Itatiaia National Park, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, November 2006

Similar species

Browner upperparts and more barred (rather than scaled) than Ocellated Piculet, no cinnamon-buff tones above and below like Ochre-collared Piculet.

Distribution

South America: found in Guyana, French Guiana, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

There are 6 subspecies [1]:

  • P. c. macconnelli:
  • North-eastern Brazil (eastern Amazonian basin west to lower Rio Tapajós)
  • P. c. confusus:
  • P. c. cirratus:
  • South-eastern Brazil (Minas Gerais to Paraná) to eastern Paraguay
  • P. c. pilcomayensis:
  • P. c. tucumanus:
  • Northern Argentina (western Salta to La Rioja)
  • P. c. thamnophiloides:
  • Andes of south-eastern Bolivia (Chuquisaca) to north-western Argentina (northern Salta)

Habitat

Tall bushes, gallery forest of savannas, open woodland and edges, also urban areas.
Occurs from lowlands up to 2100m.

Behaviour

Diet

Feeds on small insects including ants, insects larvae and eggs. Generally forages singly, sometimes in mixed-species flocks. Rather tame.

Breeding

Breeding season July to December in northern part of range, September to March in southern part. They dig nest holes in soft wood. Lays 2-4 eggs.

Movements

Probably a resident species.

References

  1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2014. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.9., with updates to August 2014. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
  2. Del Hoyo, J, A Elliot, and J Sargatal, eds. 2002. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 7: Jacamars to Woodpeckers. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8487334375
  3. Avibase

Recommended Citation

External Links

GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1

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