From Opus

Female. Photo by Gary Clark.
Location: Mindo, Ecuador.

Veniliornis fumigatus

[edit] Identification

A small (18cm, 7in.) woodpecker with no barring or conspicuous marks; best identification is overall dark, drab, brown plumage. Male has dark red crown, lacking in female.

[edit] Distribution

Numerous and widespread in foothills and subtropical forests in Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela.

[edit] Taxonomy

Five subspecies are recognized: fumigatus, oleagineus, sanguinolentus, obscuratus, and reichenbachi.
A recent study has shown that this woodpecker is misplaced and instead should be placed in genus Picoides (however, this genus may be split in the future); this is not recognized by a majority of the world-wide checklists as of yet.

[edit] Habitat

Forested and woodland areas of foothills and mountains in parts of the range reaching near sea level in Mexico.

[edit] Behaviour

Forages on branches, rather than trunks, tapping and probing methodically in live and dead wood for insects.

[edit] References

1. Clements, James F. 2007. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to October 2007. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. ISBN 9780801445019
2. Paper describing DNA taxonomy of among others this species
3. SACC proposal to move this species to genus Picoides

• List of references

[edit] External Links