Golden-green Woodpecker - Piculus chrysochloros

Golden-green Woodpecker (Piculus chrysochloros)

Male Golden-green Woodpecker, Minas Gerais, Brazil, February 2002 - click for larger image

Pirapora, Minas Gerais, Brazil
February 2002

The Golden-green Woodpecker is found in three seperate areas; northern Venezuela, Colombia and adjacent Panama; the Amazon and Orinoco Basins extending into Paraguay and northern Argentina; and south east Brazil.

It inhabits forest and forest edges as well as clumps of trees in savannah and drier areas although it seems to prefer to be near water or marshland.

It has a yellow stripe from the lores to the neck with underparts which are yellow with brown bars. The male has a red crown and malar which is replaced in the female by olive-yellow.

There are, however, nine subspecies with fairly wide variations in both size and plumage including one, P. c. paraensis of north-east Brazil, which has no red on the malar. The photo is a male of the nominate race P. c. chrysochloros.

It feeds on ants and termites which it hunts mainly by gleaning but with some pecking and excavation.

There are illustrations in HBW, Volume 7, Pages 316 and 505.

Back to Index

If you do not see a menu on the left, you may have arrived at this page from another site. Please click Home to get to my main page.