Golden-olive woodpecker

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Golden-olive woodpecker
240px
Male, CATIE, Turrialba, Costa Rica
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Phylum:
Class:
Order:
Family:
Genus:
Species:
C. rubiginosus
Binomial name
Colaptes rubiginosus
(Swainson, 1820)[2]
Synonyms[2][3]
  • Piculus rubiginosus Swainson, 1820
  • Piculus aeruginosus (Malherbe, 1862)

Lua error in Module:Taxonbar/candidate at line 22: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).

The golden-olive woodpecker (Colaptes rubiginosus) is a resident breeding bird from Mexico south and east to Guyana, northwest Argentina, Trinidad and Tobago. It was formerly placed in the genus Piculus (Benz et al., 2006). The scientific name rubiginosus means "full of rust", describing the color of the bird's wings and back.

Habitat

The habitat of this woodpecker is forests, more open woodland, and cultivation. It is most common in the mountains. Two or three white eggs are laid in a nest hole in a tree and incubated by both sexes. The young are fed by regurgitation.

Description

The golden-olive woodpecker is 22 cm long and weighs 68g. Adults are mainly golden olive above with some barring on the tail. The forecrown is grey, and the hindcrown red. The face is yellow-white and the underparts are barred black and yellowish. The bill is black. Adult males have a red moustachial strip which is lacking in the female.

Due to its habitat - mainly montane forest, separated by large rivers - it has evolved into about 20 subspecies. P. r. tobagensis from Tobago is larger and heavier-billed than the Trinidadian P. r. trinitatis. Some of the South American races have only very narrow yellow barring on the underparts, and Andean birds show a pale eyering.

Golden-olive woodpeckers mainly eat insects, including ants and beetle larvae, with some fruit and berries. The call of this bird is a loud wheep.

References

  1. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. Piculus aeruginosus on Avibase
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • ffrench, Richard; O'Neill, John Patton & Eckelberry, Don R. (2003): A guide to the birds of Trinidad and Tobago. Christopher Helm, London. ISBN 0-7136-6759-1
  • Hilty, Steven L. (2003): Birds of Venezuela. Christopher Helm, London. ISBN 0-7136-6418-5

External links