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Yellow-tufted Woodpecker - BirdForum Opus

Photo © by mmdnje
Copalinga Lodge, Bombuscaro, Ecuador, December 2007
Melanerpes cruentatus

Identification

19 cm (7½ in); two colour morphs

  • Broad pale eyering
  • Yellow tuft of feathers on the back of the head
  • Black overall plumage
  • White rump
  • Black and white barred flanks
  • Red belly
  • Yellow-tufted morph has a yellow line from eye to nape
  • Black-headed form lacks this yellow line

Male has a red crown

Distribution

Female
Photo © by Stanley Jones
Between Estadio municipal de Calzada and Morros de Calzada, Amazonas Department, Peru, November 2013

Tropical South America; from East Colombia to the Guianas, eastern Bolivia, north-eastern Brazil and Mato Grosso.

Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species[1].

Habitat

Rainforests. Also secondary growth and forest edges and isolated trees in clearings.

Behaviour

Diet

The diet consists of insects, particularly ants and also spiders. They also eat a lot of fruit and berries.

References

  1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2018. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
  2. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved Aug 2018)
  3. Neotropical Birds

Recommended Citation

External Links

GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1

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