The red-crowned woodpecker (Melanerpes rubricapillus) is a resident breeding bird from southwestern Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas and Tobago.

Description

The adult is 17 cm (6.7 in) long and weighs 55 g (1.9 oz). It has a zebra-barred black and white back and wings and a white rump. The tail is black with some white barring, and the underparts are pale buff-brown. The male has a red crown patch and nape. The female has a buff crown and duller nape. Immature birds are duller, particularly in the red areas of the head and neck.

Although this species is very similar in appearance to the golden-fronted woodpecker (Melanerpes aurifrons) and the Yucatan woodpecker (Melanerpes pygmaeus), its distribution does not overlap with either of these species.

Distribution and habitat

This woodpecker occurs in forests and semi-open woodland and cultivation. It nests in a hole in a dead tree or large cactus. The clutch is two eggs, incubated by both sexes, which fledge after 31–33 days.

Diet

Red-crowned woodpeckers feed on insects, but will take fruit and visit nectar feeders.

This common and conspicuous species gives a rattling krrrrrl call and both sexes drum on territory.