Chestnut Woodpecker
Encyclopedia
The Chestnut Woodpecker, Celeus elegans, is a resident breeding bird
in South America
from Colombia
, Venezuela
and the Guianas south to Ecuador
, Bolivia
and northern Brazil
, and on Trinidad
.
The habitat of this large woodpecker
is forest and other closed woodland. The nest hole is in a dead tree, with the chamber floor up to 30 cm below the entrance. Three white eggs are laid.
The Chestnut Woodpecker is 28 cm long and weighs 127g. It is a rich unbarred chestnut brown with a yellow rump and flanks and a yellowish crest. The wings and tail are black and the bill yellow-white. The male has a red malar stripe, but otherwise the sexes are similar.
C. e. leotaudi of Trinidad is smaller, paler, and much brighter than the mainland forms. Other subspecies have differing crest colours.
The Chestnut Woodpecker mainly feeds in trees and bushes on insect
s, including termite
s, and some fruit
, and will come to table scraps. It is a noisy species with a harsh parrot-like
squawk whEEjer. Both sexes drum.
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
from Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
and the Guianas south to Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
, Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
and northern Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, and on Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
.
The habitat of this large woodpecker
Woodpecker
Woodpeckers are near passerine birds of the order Piciformes. They are one subfamily in the family Picidae, which also includes the piculets and wrynecks. They are found worldwide and include about 180 species....
is forest and other closed woodland. The nest hole is in a dead tree, with the chamber floor up to 30 cm below the entrance. Three white eggs are laid.
The Chestnut Woodpecker is 28 cm long and weighs 127g. It is a rich unbarred chestnut brown with a yellow rump and flanks and a yellowish crest. The wings and tail are black and the bill yellow-white. The male has a red malar stripe, but otherwise the sexes are similar.
C. e. leotaudi of Trinidad is smaller, paler, and much brighter than the mainland forms. Other subspecies have differing crest colours.
The Chestnut Woodpecker mainly feeds in trees and bushes on insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s, including termite
Termite
Termites are a group of eusocial insects that, until recently, were classified at the taxonomic rank of order Isoptera , but are now accepted as the epifamily Termitoidae, of the cockroach order Blattodea...
s, and some fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
, and will come to table scraps. It is a noisy species with a harsh parrot-like
Parrot
Parrots, also known as psittacines , are birds of the roughly 372 species in 86 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes, found in most tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three families: the Psittacidae , the Cacatuidae and the Strigopidae...
squawk whEEjer. Both sexes drum.
External links
- Chestnut Woodpecker videos on the Internet Bird Collection
- Chestnut Woodpecker photo gallery VIREO Photo-High Res
- Photo-High Res; Article geometer.org–(Trinidad and Tobago)
