Golden-fronted woodpecker
| Golden-fronted woodpecker | ||||||||||||
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Gold-fronted Woodpecker ♂ ( Melanerpes aurifrons ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Melanerpes aurifrons | ||||||||||||
| ( Wagler , 1829) |
The gold- fronted woodpecker ( Melanerpes aurifrons ) is a species of woodpecker from the genus Melanerpes within the subfamily of the real woodpeckers (Picinae).
features
With a size of 27 cm and an average weight of 87 g, the golden-fronted woodpecker belongs to the medium-sized woodpeckers. The wing lengths are between 12.7 cm in the female and 13.3 cm in the male. The beak lengths of the males with 32.2 mm also differ from that of the females with 28.3 mm. It has a yellow forehead above its beak, which gives this bird species its name . Its head and torso are gray in color, the neck is orange-reddish. The wing plumage has a black and white striped pattern. The male has a red vertex.
Occurrence
The golden-fronted woodpecker is common in the Central American states of Belize , El Salvador , Guatemala , Honduras , Nicaragua , as well as in eastern Mexico and in the US states of Texas and Oklahoma . It is native to forest areas as well as parks and gardens. It breeds in tree hollows. Its diet consists mainly of insects and beetles.
Way of life
It looks for its food mainly in the upper regions of the trees.
Subspecies
According to the Integrated Taxonomic Information System , 11 subspecies of the golden-fronted woodpecker are valid. These are:
- Melanerpes aurifrons aurifrons ( Wagler , 1829)
- Melanerpes aurifrons canescens ( Salvin , 1889)
- Melanerpes aurifrons dubius ( Cabot , 1844)
- Melanerpes aurifrons grateloupensis ( Lesson , 1839)
- Melanerpes aurifrons hughlandi ( Dickerman , 1987)
- Melanerpes aurifrons insulanus ( Bond , 1936)
- Melanerpes aurifrons leei ( Ridgway , 1885)
- Melanerpes aurifrons pauper ( Ridgway , 1888)
- Melanerpes aurifrons polygrammus ( Cabanis , 1862)
- Melanerpes aurifrons santacruzi ( Bonaparte , 1838)
- Melanerpes aurifrons turneffensis ( Russell , 1963)
literature
- Donald and Lilian Stokes: Stokes Field Guide to Birds: Eastern Region . Little, Brown and Company, Boston 1996, ISBN 0-316-81809-7 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Dieter Blume: Woodpeckers from foreign countries. Neue Brehm-Bücherei No. 434, A. Ziemsen-Verlag, Wittenberg; 1971, p. 71.
Web links
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Melanerpes aurifrons in the Internet Bird Collection
- Melanerpes aurifrons in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2008. Accessed January 2 of 2009.
- ITIS Report , accessed January 16, 2010