Yellow-browed woodpecker

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Yellow-browed woodpecker
Yellow-browed woodpecker

Yellow-browed woodpecker

Systematics
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Woodpecker birds (Piciformes)
Family : Woodpeckers (Picidae)
Subfamily : Real woodpeckers (Picinae)
Genre : Melanerpes
Type : Yellow-browed woodpecker
Scientific name
Melanerpes cruentatus
( Boddaert , 1783)

The yellow-tufted woodpecker ( Melanerpes cruentatus ) is a species of bird from the family of woodpeckers (Picidae). This small woodpecker species inhabits large parts of northern South America and predominantly inhabits the primary tropical rainforest , but also secondary forest and forest edges up to clearings with individual trees. The food that is mainly sought in the treetops consists mainly of ants and other insects as well as fruits. The species is common and is classified by the IUCN as "least concern".

description

Yellow-browed woodpeckers are small woodpeckers with a long, pointed beak that is quite broad at the base. The ridge of the beak is bent downwards. The body length is about 19 cm, the weight 48-64 g, they are significantly smaller than a great spotted woodpecker . The species has two color morphs and both morphs show a distinct sexual dimorphism in terms of color .

The middle and lower back as well as the rump are white, the rest of the upper side of the trunk, most of the head, the upper wing coverts and the chest are one color, shiny black. The middle of the abdomen is red, the rest of the underside of the trunk, the flanks, the leg fletching, the coverts of the lower tail and the coverts of the wings are strongly banded with dark transverse bands on a white background. The wings are black and slightly shiny with short white bands on the inner vane , which are limited to the spring base of the hand wings . The upper side of the tail is blue-black, the central control feathers usually show white spots on the inner vents. The underside of the tail is brownish black.

The beak is black, legs and toes are gray to pinkish gray. The iris is pale yellow.

All morphs and genders have a very conspicuous, featherless, wide white to pale yellow eye ring. In the male of the black headed morph, the upper head is red in the middle, in the female this red markings are missing and the head is monochrome black except for the light eye ring. The head of the yellow tufted morph is significantly more colorful. Males show a red colouration of the skull that extends further towards the back of the head, a bright golden-yellow stripe from the back of the head to the lower neck and a strong white stripe above the eye that begins in front of the eye and becomes increasingly yellowish towards the back and connects to the yellow stripe on the back of the neck. The females of this morph also lack the red color of the upper head, the neck stripe is shorter and pale yellow. In addition to these two morphs, there are also intermediate specimens.

distribution and habitat

Distribution area of ​​the yellow-brown woodpecker

Yellow-browed woodpeckers inhabit large parts of northern South America. The distribution area extends in a west-east direction from east Colombia to the central north of Brazil , in north-south direction from Guyana and French Guiana to the east of Peru and Ecuador , to the north and east of Bolivia and into the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso and Pará .

The species predominantly colonizes the tropical rainforest there , but also secondary forests and forest edges up to clearings with individual trees. Important habitat elements are apparently large dead trees. The animals can be found up to an altitude of 1200 m.

Systematics

No subspecies are recognized today. The two color morphs were previously thought to be separate species, but breed freely with one another without restriction.

nutrition

Most of the food is sought in the treetops, especially in the upper areas of dead trees. These woodpeckers mainly eat ants and other insects as well as fruits, and more rarely other arthropods such as spiders and centipedes . The food is mainly read from trunks, branches, twigs and leaves, in the evening hours the animals also catch flying insects from the hide.

Reproduction

Yellow-browed woodpeckers live and breed in pairs or groups of 3 to 5, occasionally up to 12 individuals; the apparently complex social system of the species has so far hardly been explored. The animals apparently breed almost all year round, with breeding activities observed from December to September. The caves are created in dead trees and large tree stumps, and several nesting holes are often close together. Exact information on the clutch size and the breeding season are apparently not available. The nestlings are fed by individual animals or by the entire group, so that individual adult animals serve as helpers for up to three different broods.

Existence and endangerment

There is no information on the size of the world population, but the species is common. It is classified by the IUCN as “least concern”.

swell

literature

  • Hans Winkler , David A. Christie and David Nurney: Woodpeckers. A Guide to the Woodpeckers, Piculets, and Wrynecks of the World. Pica Press, Robertsbridge 1995, ISBN 0-395-72043-5 , pp. 58-59 and 204-205.

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