Alternative name: Black-necked Flicker
- Colaptes atricollis
Identification
26-25 cm.
- Dark grey forehead to hindcrown, red-tipped feathers on forehead and crown side
- Red hindcrown and upper nape
- Yellowish-white lores and line above eye
- Yellowish-white ear-coverts tinged buffish-olive
- Olive-grey neck side barred black
- Red malar band with black feather bases
- Black chin, throat and upper breast
- Bronze-green hindneck and upperparts with narrow blackish bars
- Paler rump and uppertail-coverts with paler bars
- Dark brown flight-feathers barred yellowish, olive-yellow shafts often forming a paler panel
- Dark brown uppertail, partly with pale bars
- Yellow underparts below breast with yellow black bars, belly weakly marked
- Brown undertail, yellow at base, with whitish-yellow bars
- peruvianus is smaller, has a shorter bill and paler and more barred upperparts.
Females alck the red on forehead and crown side and their malar region is blackish.
Juveniles are duller and darker-faced.
Distribution
South America: found in western Peru.
An uncommon and little-known species, locally more common.
Taxonomy
Subspecies[1]
There are 2 subspecies:
- C. a. atricollis:
- Xeric western slopes of Andes of Peru (La Libertad to western Arequipa)
- C. a. peruvianus:
- Northern Peru (xeric slopes of Marañón Valley)
Habitat
Tropical, subtropical cactus zone, moist lowland forests, and high-altitude shrubland.
Occurs at 500 to 2800 m, sometimes higher. At 1700-4300 m around Marañón Valley.
Behaviour
Diet
Feeds on ants, their larvae and their pupae.
Forages mostly on trees but also near or on the ground and often among bushes. Usually seen singly or in pairs.
Breeding
Breeding season probably June to July and September. The nest hole is excavated in a tree, a large cactus or a telephone pole.
Movements
A resident species with some presumed altitudinal movements.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, B.L. Sullivan, C. L. Wood, and D. Roberson. 2013. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.8., with updates to August 2013. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Del Hoyo, J, A Elliot, and J Sargatal, eds. 2002. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 7: Jacamars to Woodpeckers. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8487334375
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Black-necked Woodpecker. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 25 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Black-necked_Woodpecker
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.
