Colombian name: Carpintero Cariblanco

The Golden-olive Woodpecker is distributed from Mexico through Central America to the Andes from Venezuela to north-west Argentina and in the mountains of northern Venezuela and into the Guyanas. See the distribution map at Birdlife International. It is found in a wide range of habitats at elevations of between 900 and 3,100 metres in Colombia.

Most of these photos show females which lack the red malar stripe of the male. There are about 19 sub-species with one of the notable variances being the amount of red on the crown and nape. The sub-species in photos 1 to 3 from central Colombia is C. r. gularis where the male has an almost entirely red crown and nape and the female has more red than most other sub-species. Photo 4 shows a female of the race C. r. alleni from the Santa Marta mountains. Photo 7 shows a female from eastern Ecuador of the race C. r. buenavistae