Desert gold woodpecker
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Desert gold woodpecker ( Colaptes chrysoides ) |
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| Colaptes chrysoides | ||||||||||||
| ( Malherbe , 1852) |
The desert gold woodpecker ( Colaptes chrysoides ) is a species from the subfamily of the real woodpeckers (Picinae) and the genus of the gold woodpeckers (Colaptes).
features
The desert gold woodpecker is one of the larger woodpeckers at 29 centimeters. Its back and wings are striped brown and black, the white chest is black-spotted. Above it is a wide black neck ring. The male has a red stripe at the base of his beak. Its distribution area borders on that of the golden woodpecker ( Colaptes auratus ). The main distinguishing feature is the undersides of the wings, which are golden yellow in the desert gold woodpecker and red in the gold woodpecker.
Occurrence
The desert gold woodpecker is widespread in the Sonora desert in the southwest of the USA and northwest Mexico as well as on the Baja California peninsula - except in its northwest region. He typically builds his breeding cave in saguaro cacti. Its diet consists mainly of ants and other insects.
Subspecies
There are four known subspecies:
- C. c. mearnsi Ridgway , 1911 - This subspecies is distributed in southeastern California through central and southern Arizona to northern Sonora .
- C. c. tenebrosus van Rossem , 1930 - This subspecies is distributed in the north of Sonora to the north of Sinaloa .
- C. c. brunnescens Anthony , 1895 - This subspecies is common in northern and central Baja California .
- C. c. chrysoides ( Malherbe , 1852) - The nominate form occurs in southern Baja California.
literature
- Donald and Lilian Stokes: Stokes Field Guide to Birds: Western Region . Little, Brown and Company, Boston 1996, ISBN 0-316-81810-0 .
- Alfred Malherbe: Description de nouvelles espèces de Picidae . In: Revue et magasin de zoologie pure et appliquée (= 2 ). tape 4 , 1852, p. 550–555 ( online [accessed March 21, 2015]).
- Adriaan Joseph van Rossem: A new race of gilded flicker from Sonora . In: Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History . tape 6 , no. 5 , 1930, p. 171–172 ( online [accessed March 21, 2015]).
- Robert Ridgway: Diagnoses of some new forms of Picidae . In: Proceedings of The Biological Society of Washington . tape 24 , 1911, pp. 31-35 ( online [accessed March 21, 2015]).
- Alfred Webster Anthony: New Races of Colaptes and Passerella from the Pacific Coast . In: The Auk . tape 12 , no. 4 , 1895, p. 347–349 (English, online [PDF; 108 kB ; accessed on March 21, 2015]).
Web links
- Colaptes chrysoides inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2013.