Black-cheeked Woodpecker

Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Melanerpes pucherani.

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Piciformes Family: Picidae Species: Melanerpes pucherani

Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Melanerpes pucherani.

The Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Melanerpes pucherani, is a resident breeding bird from southeastern Mexico south to western Ecuador.

This woodpecker occurs in the higher levels of wet forests, semi-open woodland and old second growth. It nests in an unlined hole 6-30 m high in a dead tree. The clutch is two to four glossy white eggs, incubated by both sexes. Not popular with the local fruit growers as they can wipe out a crop.

The adult is 18.5 cm long and weighs 63 g. It has black upperparts with white barring on the back, white spotting on the wings and a white rump. The tail is black with some white barring, and the underparts are pale buff-olive with a red central belly. There is a black patch through the eys and on the cheeks, a yellow forehead, and a red nape. The crown is red in the male and black in the female. Young birds are duller, have less white above and less red on the belly.

The Black-cheeked Woodpecker feeds on insects, but will take substantial quantities of fruit and nectar.

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