From Opus

Male
Photo by cfagyal
Roma, on the Rio Grande in southern Texas, USA, April 2004

Melanerpes aurifrons

Includes: Velasquez's Woodpecker

Identification

9 1/2" (24 cm)
Barred with black and white above and buff below, nape orange; forecrown yellow.
Female lacks red on crown, but has orange nape. It is the most commonly observed woodpecker in much of Mexico and northern Central America.

Variation

Female
Photo by Gary Clark
Big Bend National Park, Texas, USA

In southern part of its range the nape is red and not yellow, and in the Yucatan (Mexico) all yellow to golden is replaced by red; in this area, the barring on the back is also finer than in the USA

Similar Species

Red-bellied Woodpecker, which differs in nape color in the area of overlap. [[Yucatan Woodpecker] is a relevant comparison in the southeastern part of the range.

Distribution

Resident from southwestern Oklahoma and central Texas down through Mexico and all of northern Central America to Nicaragua.

Taxonomy

The species name aurifrons is Latin for "gold-fronted"

Subspecies

Twelve subspecies occur throughout its range^[1]:

• M. a. aurifrons: Lowlands of south-western Oklahoma and north-western Texas to south-central Mexico
• M. a. grateloupensis: Eastern Mexico (Tamaulipas and San Lu¡s Potos¡ to Puebla, Veracruz)
• M. a. veraecrucis: Atlantic slope: Eastern Mexico (Veracruz) to north-eastern Guatemala
• M. a. dubius: Southern Mexico (Yucatan Peninsula) to north-eastern Guatemala and Belize

Subspecies dubius
Photo by njlarsen
Hazienda Chichén, Yucatan, Mexico, May 2012

• M. a. leei: Cozumel Island (off eastern Mexico)
• M. a. turneffensis: Turneffe Islands (off Belize)
• M. a. santacruzi: South-eastern Chiapas to El Salvador, south-western Honduras and north-central Nicaragua
• M. a. hughlandi: Guatemala (upper R¡o Negro and upper Motagua Valley)
• M. a. pauper: Coastal northern Honduras
• M. a. insulanus: Utila Island (off northern Honduras)
• M. a. canescens: Roat n Island and Barbareta Island (off northern Honduras)
• M. a. polygrammus: Arid south-western Mexico (south-western Oaxaca through interior Chiapas)

A hybrid zone occurs with the closely related Hoffmann's Woodpecker in southern Honduras. Some authors have suggested that they should be considered as one species. Other authors have suggested treating some of the subspecies as separate species, eg the santacruzi group (from Yucatan Peninsula including Honduras and Guatemala, and from surrounding islands) as Velasquez's Woodpecker.

Female of Yucatan form
Photo by kstennett
Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, November 2010

Habitat

Open woods in dry country and river bottoms with trees.
This familiar woodpecker is common in the parks and shade trees of central and west Texas towns and cities.

Behaviour

Breeding

Nesting: 4 or 5 white eggs in holes in mesquite trees, poles, and posts.

Vocalisation

Loud churrrr.
Call: a burry chuck-chuck-chuck.

References

1. Clements, JF. 2011. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to August 2011. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
2. Avibase
3. BF Member observations

• List of references

External Links