Brazilian name: Arapaçu-de-garganta-amarela

The Buff-throated Woodpecker is distributed throughout most of the Amazon Basin with disjunct populations in north-east Brazil. But it is a complex with several sub-species and some doubt as to the relationships. Birdlife International split the species into Buff-throated Woodcreeper X. guttatus and Lafresnaye's Woodcreeper X. guttatoides.

The first two photos were taken at Borba on the eastern bank of the rio Madeira and are of the sub-species X. g. vicinalis.

Some authorities group this sub-species with X. g. eytoni and elevate it to a species called Dusky-billed Woodcreeper. This is differentiated mainly by its darker bill and whiter spots on the crown, streaks on the back and throat. Those who disagree that Dusky-billed Woodcreeper is a full species often point to X. g. vicinalis as being intermediate between X. g. eytoni and the other main group represented here in photos 3 to 6, taken at São Gabriel da Cachoeira and photo 10 taken at Sani Lodge, Ecuador, by the sub-species X. g. guttatoides. Here you will see the paler bill and the buffier spots, streaks and throat.