Checkered Woodpecker Dryobates mixtus)
(aka Chequered/Checked Woodpecker Picoides mixtus, Veniliornis mixtus)
Female Chequered Woodpecker, Guaraí, Tocantins, Brazil, February 2002 - click for larger image Brazil

The Checkered Woodpecker is found from north-east Brazil to central Argentina and is found in a variety of open woodland habitats including this cerrado habitat in Tocantins where the first two photos were taken. See the distribution map at xeno-canto.

Male Chequered Woodpecker, Guaraí, Tocantins, Brazil, February 2002 - click for larger image The males in photos 2 to 4 show the red nape which is absent in the female in the first photo. The subspecies shown here, P. m. cancellatus is noticeably browner than subspecies found further south in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.

They are quite small woodpeckers at about 14 cms (5½") and are noted for foraging on twigs and branches rather than on main trunks. They eat both insects and seeds.

Chequered Woodpecker, Cerra de Cipo, Minas Gerais, Brazil, October 2022 - click for larger image
Chequered Woodpecker, Cerra de Cipo, Minas Gerais, Brazil, October 2022 - click for larger image
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