How This Site is Organized

Everything that appears on this page, from top to bottom, is the Home Page.

• New Posts appear above this one
• They eventually get backdated to group them with their respective topics 

• Resource Posts appear below this one
• They are here to serve new and returning visitors with readily available info on all the Campephilus species names, major media links, etc.
• They remain on the Home Page

•  Easily Find What You Want
• Use Image Icons in the left sidebar to retrieve posts by species
• Select the News and Research buttons for posts on those areas of interest.
• Or, Select Any Category from the right sidebar to retrieve posts by category

Campephilus Species

There are either 11 or 12 Campephilus species depending on how the Ivory-billed Woodpecker is classified.  For more details, see a separate post at this link.

RANGE MAPS

Click on a species name to see its range map at Avibase, courtesy of NatureServe.

Cream-backed Woodpecker (Campephilus leucopogon)

Crimson-bellied Woodpecker (Campephilus heamatogaster)

Crimson-crested Woodpecker (Campephilus melanoleucos)

Cuban Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis bairdii)

Guayaquil Woodpecker (Campephilus gayaquilensis)

Imperial Woodpecker (Campephilus imperialis)

Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis)

Magellanic Woodpecker (Campephilus magellanicus)

Pale-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus guatemalensis)

Powerful Woodpecker (Campephilus pollens)

Red-necked Woodpecker (Campephilus rubricollis)

Robust Woodpecker (Campephilus robustus)

Various other sites offer the range map and other species information for each Campephilus woodpecker.   See, for example, this page at Xeno-canto:

Species Overview page for the Crimson-bellied Woodpecker

Campephilus Nomenclature

For a most incredibly detailed resource on Campephilus woodpecker nomenclature, visit Zoonomen's Zoological Nomenclature Resource at this link.   (It will take some searching to find "campephilus" there.  Select PICIFORMES in the left frame, and then Campephilus will appear near the bottom of the large frame).

Also, you can view a nice, and even more user-friendly, presentation of Campephilus taxonomic hierarchy and nomenclature drawn from Zoonomen at this site:

Integrated Taxonomic Information System

Campephilus Subspecies

At Avibase, the Cuban Ivory-billed Woodpecker is listed as a subspecies of the US Ivory-billed Woodpecker along with several other Campephilus subspecies.  Follow this logo link, then enter "Campephilus" in the search box to retrieve the list with subspecies:

WolframAlpha on Campephilus Woodpeckers

Here is an image from the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) search result from Wolfram Alpha's computational knowledge search engine that details Campephilus taxonomy.

Taxonomic network:

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=ivory-billed+woodpecker
Source:  Wolfram Alpha LLC.  2010.  Wolfram|Alpha.
(accessed February 20, 2010).

By the way, if you've never entered your birth day, month and year into Wolfram Alpha, you may want to try it out here.

A Fossil Campephilus Species

In his book In Search of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, Jerome A. Jackson relates that a fossil species was described as Campephilus dalquesti by Pierce Brodkorb, an American ornithologist and paleontologist.  This fossil species was discovered in Scurry County in central Texas, and dated to the late Pliocene epoch.

I wonder what C. dalquesti looked like.   Maybe a bit like this dino-bird!?  At least the colors look right. The dino-bird portrayed below is Anchiornis huxleyi - you can find more info here.

Check out the amazing video at this link:

Finding Dino Color In Fossil Feathers

Handbook of the Birds of the World by Lynx Edicions

The Internet Bird Collection is a non-profit endeavor sponsored by the Handbook of the Birds of the World, whose publishers happened to select the Magellanic Woodpecker, the largest woodpecker in South America, to represent the entire Picidae family on the cover of Volume 7.

http://www.lynxeds.com/hbw/handbook-birds-world-v7

Some people were not quite as thrilled with that selection as I was.   In an overwhelmingly positive review of the book, Geoffrey Carpentier had this to say about the cover:

With a book of this nature, one has to try very hard before finding fault. My only quibble:

I didn't like the picture of the Magellanic Woodpecker on the cover. It seems

an ungainly bird and a prettier one could have been chosen. 

Oh well!

Listen, Look and Watch at the Macaulay Library

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Macaulay Library bills itself as "the world’s premier scientific archive of natural history audio, video, and photographs."  Follow the link below, and you'll be able to search for over thousands of Campephilus woodpecker media files by common or scientific name.

https://www.macaulaylibrary.org/about/

The Macaulay Library contains the notable 10 min, 20 sec length recording of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers drumming, making kents and also other vocalizations all recorded by Arthur A. Allen and his team in April, 1935.  It also contains a 1 min, 40 sec recording of what may be kent calls of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker recorded by John V. Dennis on February 25, 1968 in Texas.

Listen at Xeno-Canto

Xeno-canto is a community database of shared bird sounds from around the world.  It's an ever-growing collection of bird sounds.  At xeno-canto, you can listen to dozens of Campephilus woodpecker vocalizations, drumming and knocks from 9 out of the 12 species.  Missing are any sounds of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, the Cuban Ivory-billed Woodpecker and the Imperial Woodpecker.  That still leaves a multitude of recordings of the rest of the Campephilus family for your enjoyment and study

http://www.xeno-canto.org/browse.php?query=campephilus

Xeno-canto lets visitors to its site participate by discussing and identifying unknown sounds.  And, if you record bird sounds, you should know that xeno-canto also lets people upload and share their own recordings on the site.

Also, don't miss the highly informative Species Overview  pages on Xeno-Canto.  Available from the left frame menu, these pages offer a summary of number of species sound recordings, photos, range maps and sonogram images.   See this page, for example:

Species Overview page for the Red-necked Woodpecker

WikiAves - A Enciclopédia das Aves do Brasil

WikiAves Encyclopedia of Brazilian Birds is an amazing resource of Campephilus descriptive information, photos and sounds.   WikiAves represents the four species of Campephilus woodpeckers, listed below, that can be found in Brazil.

The photographs that I have seen in WikiAves are among the most spectacular ones that I've seen anywhere.

In English and Portuguese, the four species of Campephilus in WikiAves are:

• Cream-backed Woodpecker         Pica-pau-de-barriga-preta

• Crimson-crested Woodpecker      Pica-pau-de-topete-vermelho
  

• Red-necked Woodpecker             Pica-pau-de-barriga-vermelha 

• Robust Woodpecker                    Pica-pau-rei
  

   

Although the entry on the Cream-backed Woodpecker is rather slim (as of this posting) the others have a wealth of descriptive information.  And you'll find sounds and photos for all of them.  You can cut and paste the Portuguese text into your favorite web-based translator to understand the entries.

SIB - Parques Nacionales - Sistema de Información sobre Biodiversidad

There are 4 species of Campephilus that are native to Argentina which contain interesting and detailed profiles (en Español) along with dramatic illustrations of each species, except the Robust Woodpecker, at the SIB - Parques Nacionales - Sistema de Información sobre Biodiversidad site.  Be a bit patient to allow this site to load.

In English and with their Spanish names, the four species of Campephilus at the SIB site are:

1. Crimson-crested Woodpecker     Carpintero garganta negra

          Carpintero grande

2. Cream-backed Woodpecker     Carpintero lomo blanco

3. Magellanic Woodpecker     Carpintero gigante     Carpintero negro patagónico

          Carpintero patagónico

4. Robust Woodpecker     Carpintero grande

SORA Searchable Ornithological Research Archive

Originally posted 4/10/10 - backdated to organize posts by topic.

This posts highlights the extraordinary SORA project, the source of an incredible array of ornithological journal articles.  The SORA project is described as follows at the site:

The SORA project is an open access electronic journal archive and is the product of a collaboration between the American Ornithologists Union, the Cooper Ornithological Society, the Association of Field Ornithologists, the Wilson Ornithological Society and the University of New Mexico libraries and IT department. 

Here is the link to SORA.

Of course, there are many interesting articles on Campephilus woodpeckers within SORA.  For example, searching for the word "guayaquil" by keyword quickly retrieves this full-text article from within SORA:

WILLIAMS

First Description of the Nest, Eggs and Nestling of the Guayaquil Woodpecker (Campephilus [Phloeoceastes] Gayaquilensis) (Wilson Bulletin: Vol. 92, No. 4, October-December, 1980)

Here is an excerpt from that article:

The nest cavity was in the main trunk about 6 m above the ground. Its irregularly shaped entrance was large enough (about 75 x 100 mm) to admit my hand, and it was about 30 cm deep. I could not reach the cavity’s bottom or its contents, but using a mirror, I saw 1 egg and 1 newly-hatched young. The shell of the hatched egg was still in the nest. The eggs were white and immaculate-typical large woodpecker eggs. The nestling was making weak chirping sounds. Its eyes were closed, and it appeared naked; however, in the dim light of the cavity, sparse down probably would not have been obvious. It had a conspicuous eggtooth. I visited this nest again at 13:50. After approaching within 6-8 m of the female at the cavity entrance, I made several color transparencies (Frontispiece). I never saw more than 1 adult at this site.

I am amazed at how little still is known of the breeding and behavior of the Campephilus woodpeckers.

Cream-backed Woodpecker

 Originally posted 3/20/2010 - backdated to organize posts by topic.

Some of the best woodpecker photos (Campephilus and others) that you will ever find are at a site called PicidPics, like this fantastic photo of a male Cream-backed Woodpecker. 

PicidPics features photos of picids, including woodpeckers, piculets and wrynecks by Martjan Lammertink and Julio Pérez Cañestro.  The site also features photos of woodpecker researchers in the field and photos of secondary cavity users.

Visit PicidPics here

Photo © Martjan Lammertink, posted here with permission.

This photo shows the bird's pale creamy mantle in excellent detail.  The male has a bright red head with black and white marks at the lower rear edge of its ear coverts.   Like some Campephilus relatives, the Cream-backed Woodpecker has a striking chisel-shaped, ivory-colored bill.

You can also see here the long toe that the large Campephilus woodpeckers extend to their side to secure their stance against a tree.  It's a good brace against gravity!  You'd probably extend your arms out to either side like this if you found yourself braced against a cliff on a narrow ledge.

The Cream-backed Woodpecker inhabits subtropical and dry tropical forests in south central South America in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.  Unlike several of its close relatives, this species occurs in savannas, and it can be observed visiting isolated trees in open areas.

Cream-backed Woodpecker - 3 Photos

Originally posted 3/22/11 - backdated to organize posts by topic.

  
Silvia Vitale was kind enough to grant permission for me to post these excellent photos she took of a female Cream-backed Woodpecker.  She took them at La Cumbre, Cordoba Province, Argentina near the village.  As you see here, the female sports a striking, white moustachial stripe adjacent to her ivory bill.  The male bird's head is almost entirely red.  Cream-backed Woodpeckers inhabit xeric (dry) woodlands of the chaco habitat in southern-central parts of South America, occurring in savannas, pastures with copses, groves, woodland and transitional forests, up to 2,500m.*

*Reference - Woodpeckers: A Guide to the Woodpeckers of the World by H. Winkler, DA Christie & D. Nurney.

Cream-backed Woodpecker

Many thanks to Gary Clark for granting permission to post his stunning photograph of a female Cream-backed Woodpecker here.  For more information about this photo, or two see other amazing photos by Gary Clark, visit his web albums at this link.

Cream-backed Woodpecker

Many thanks to Karisusi78 for sharing this video of a male Cream-backed Woodpecker from Paraguay.

Cream-backed Woodpecker

Many thanks to Karina Diarte on Flickr for sharing this striking photo of a male Cream-backed Woodpecker here. The photo is posted here with her permission.

Cream-backed Woodpecker

Many thanks to Karina Diarte on Flickr for sharing this beautiful photo of a female Cream-backed Woodpecker here. The photo is posted here with her permission.

Carpintero Lomo Blanco

Originally posted 10/19/10 - backdated to organize posts by topic.

Here is an interesting video posted by infofon on YouTube that shows a female Carpintero Lomo Blanco, a Cream-backed Woodpecker, displaying an array of behaviors. Two birds are briefly in flight before one bird does a couple of double raps (typical of some members of the Campephilus genus) perhaps to signal another bird nearby. I'm not sure whether or not it is the same bird seen earlier, but toward the end of the video, you will see a female hitching herself up a tree trunk and then foraging.

Press play, then change the setting at the lower right of the video box from  360p to 480p to watch it at higher resolution.

I know a little Spanish, but not enough to translate the comments in this video. If you can translate them into English, please post a comment and then I'll revise this post with that info.  UPDATE - Thanks to Martjan for this translation of the video comments into English:

"Well, we are going to try to continue observing. They told us it is very difficult to make a video take because they do not sit still. And they stay very few seconds in a tree and then fly to another tree. So we continue to walk, searching for other individuals around here".

Cream-backed Woodpeckers: A Closer Look

Originally posted 7/4/10 - backdated to organize posts by topic.

It's hard to convey the brilliance of the nearly 150-year old, hand-colored lithographs in Alfred Malherbe's Monographie des Picidées that one sees upon viewing the genuine article.  A closer look at the Cream-backed Woodpeckers depicted in Plate III (female, above and male, below) helps to reveal more of their fine detail.  My apologies if the occasional large-sized photos I post are less than ideal for your particular monitor.

The flight feather on the right belongs to the Robust Woodpecker.  See the full Plate III illustration for a comparison of Cream-backed and Robust Woodpecker flight feathers.

This illustration is within the public domain appears here courtesy of the Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University in the City of New York.

Mégapic de Boié, the Cream-backed Woodpecker

Originally posted 7/3/10 - backdated to organize posts by topic.

Here's Plate III from Alfred Malherbe's Monographie des Picidées depicting the striking female Cream-backed Woodpecker on the left, the male bird on the right, and a pair of Robust Woodpeckers in the background.

Clicking on any of these illustrations will take you into my album of Malherbe's illustrations where you can download large-sized illustration files. The image above is within the public domain and it appears here courtesy of the Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University in the City of New York.

Cream-backed Woodpeckers: Two Videos

 Originally posted 8/21/2010 - backdated to organize posts by topic.

Enjoy two videos recently posted by baco1970 that show the striking Cream-backed Woodpecker in Brazil.

The first video shows a male bird that has a red crest and red head with a small oval of black and white at the lower rear edge of its ear coverts.  The second video shows one male with two female birds whose crests are a bit longer than the male's, with black from the forehead up through the central area of the crest.  Females birds also display dramatic looking moustachial stripes.

To view many more amazing bird videos, visit baco1970's YouTube channel 

or the Pantanal Bird Club site!

This video and the next one are best viewed in their enhanced versions.  Be sure to click 360p in the lower right corner of the frame and select 480p as soon as they start to play.

Pica-pau-de-barriga-preta (Campephilus leucopogon) - Fêmea

Originally posted 10/6/12 - backdated to organize posts by topic.

Pica-pau-de-barriga-preta (Campephilus leucopogon) - Fêmea, a photo by Cláudio Timm on Flickr.

This is such a wonderful photograph of a female Cream-backed Woodpecker by talented photographer Cláudio Timm, posted here under Creative Commons license. The facial markings of this bird, extending the white coloration of the beak further back with similarly colored feathers, never ceases to amaze me! This is an attribute that Cream-backed Woodpeckers share with female members of two Campephilus sister species, the Red-necked and Robust Woodpeckers.

Cream-backed Woodpecker Family

Originally posted 9/13/2010 - backdated to organize posts by topic.

Here's a video of a Cream-backed Woodpecker family group that has a pleasant soundtrack and also includes interesting vocalizations by the birds.   Near the end, just before the one minute mark, note the two double-knocks that the male bird does which compel a female bird to draw close, from the bottom then toward him by hitching herself up the tree trunk!

Thanks to Michael Blendinger for sharing this clip with us.

Visit his Discovering Bolivia site here.

Cream-backed Woodpecker

Cream-backed Woodpecker, originally uploaded by Lathers.

Many thanks to Lathers on Flickr for sharing this striking photo of a male Cream-backed Woodpecker here. The photo is posted here with his permission.

Cream-backed Woodpecker - A Pair of Females

CARPINTERO LOMO BLANCO (Campephilus leucopogon), originally uploaded by arnemiguel.

Many thanks to arnemimiguel on Flickr for granting permission to post this photo of a pair of female Cream-backed Woodpeckers here.

Cream-backed Woodpecker

Cream-backed Woodpecker, originally uploaded by Charles Hesse.

Many thanks to Charles Hesse for granting permission to post this photo of a male Cream-backed Woodpecker from Llanos de Moxos, Beni.

Cream-backed Woodpecker

Originally posted 4/10/2010 - backdated to organize posts by topic.

Argen 007, originally uploaded by hanbyholmes.

A male Cream-backed Woodpecker surveys its surroundings in Argentina.  Photo is © hanbyholmes and posted here with permission.

Cream-backed Woodpecker

 Originally posted 4/10/2010 - backdated to organize posts by topic.

5 Sep 06 - Cream-Backed Woodpecker - Cloudforests of Salta, Argentina, originally uploaded by hanbyholmes.

A female Cream-backed Woodpecker with her black and red crest along with its namesake plumage visible too.  Photo © hanbyholmes and posted here with permission.  The photo is noted as taken in the Cloudforests of Salta, Argentina and I am guessing, in the lowland Chaco zone, though I'm not sure.  To read more about this area rich in biodiversity, follow this link.

Crimson-bellied Woodpecker - Tapichalaca, Ecuador

Originally posted 8/10/11 - backdated to organize posts by topic.

Crimson-bellied Woodpecker - Tapichalaca, Ecuador - April 2011, a photo by grallaria on Flickr.

It's always great to find a good photograph of a Crimson-bellied Woodpecker because they are the least often photographed species of the Campephilus genus. They're also known by the name Splendid Woodpecker.  The white band down this bird's neck identifies it as a female. The male's neck is all red.  

Thanks to Luke Seitz for granting permission to post his photo here! He writes:

My experience with this individual was pretty brief, but it was the first time I'd seen the east slope subspecies of Crimosn-bellied, which is quite a bit brighter than the west slope subspecies and potentially a separate species...definitely a great bird either way!

Crimson-bellied Woodpecker, Tapichalaca

Originally posted 12/5/10 - backdated to organize posts by topic.

Crimson-bellied Woodpecker, Tapichalaca (PM), originally uploaded by pattymcgann.

Seeing this photo of a male Crimson-beliied Woodpecker is exciting because this large, colorful bird is so seldom photographed!  Female birds look similar to males, but they have a white band down the side of their neck.  It also goes by the name Splendid Woodpecker.  It is a forest-dwelling bird that can be found in eastern Panama, Columbia, Ecuador and Peru.

This fine photo was taken in Tapichalaca, Ecuador by Pati Rouzer and it reaches us courtesy of Patty McGann.

Crimson-bellied Woodpecker

Crimson-bellied Woodpecker © Dubi Shapiro, posted with permission.

This striking image of a Crimson-bellied Woodpecker was taken by Dubi Shapiro At Wildsumaco Lodge in December, 2008.   Wildsumaco is a new lodge built in the Andes foothills in eastern Ecuador.  This bird is a male.  In females, the white band across the cheeks continues down the side of the neck.  Rarely photographed, it is described as a very shy woodpecker that prefers to forage at low levels in dense forest.  In can be found along mountains of Central and northern South America from Panama through Colombia and western Ecuador to Peru.   

View the Range Map

Many thanks to Dubi for letting me share this photo with you.  Dubi has an extensive collection of remarkable wildlife photography.

View Dubi Shapiro's photos here at pbase

Reference

- Woodpeckers: A Guide to the Woodpeckers of the World by H. Winkler, D. A. Christie & D. Nurney

Crimson-bellied Woodpecker Illustration

Originally posted 12/14/10 - backdated to organize posts by topic.

Here is a hand-colored lithograph depicting the very colorful Crimson-bellied Woodpecker in Plate IX by Delahaye from Alfred Malherbe's Monographie des picidées (1859-1862).  Figure 1 and 3 represent male birds and figure 2, the bird with the white band on its neck, is a female.  Over the past several months, I have been posting the plates from this monumental work which illustrate the eleven species of Campephilus woodpeckers, a task that is now complete with the posting of this ninth plate. 

The monograph contains large illustrations of both sexes of the 140 woodpecker species new to science at the time and reduced illustrations of the known species.  The birds depicted here in the left background are Orange-backed Woodpeckers.  Not within the Campephilus genus, the large Orange-backed Woodpecker (Reinwardtipicus validus) of South-east Asia is the sole member of its genus.  Along with the members of the Flameback or Chrysocolaptes genus, perhaps (based upon its appearance) it is one of the species that is more closely related to the Campephilus tribe than the other woodpeckers.   

See several photos of the Orange-backed Woodpecker on Flickr

I was able to photograph all 123 hand-colored lithographic plates from the Monographie des picidées.  Each plate contains beautiful and interesting illustrations.  I hope to make all of the plates available online in the future, though I am not sure when I will get to it.  In the meantime, please feel free to contact me if you're ever in need of the corresponding plate for a particular woodpecker species.

This image within the public domain appears here courtesy of the Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University in the City of New York.

Mégapic à Cou Rouge

Originally posted 6/6/10 - backdated to organize posts by topic.

Marvelous hand-colored lithographs of each Campephilus woodpecker species appear in Alfred Malherbe's extraordinary Monographie des Picidées, a work that dates back to the early 1860s.  These along with many other illustrations depict the then known species of woodpeckers in a total of 123 fine, hand-colored lithographic plates by C.Delahaye, A. Mesnel and P.Oudart under the direction of Malherbe.  This one is a detail from Plate IX which is entitled Mégapic à Cou Rouge, the Crimson-bellied Woodpecker. 

What is an aficionado to do but spend an afternoon off visiting the rare book room at a local university to examine this epic tome and secure high quality images, as freely permitted at said institution, and then share them with you here at Campephilus Woodpeckers?  And so, I present you with just a bit of something to truly look forward to, if you enjoy this sort of fantastic imagery.

You can read more about Alfred Malherbe's magnificent work at this post. 

And, see this work's depiction of the largest woodpecker in the world right here.

The additional  Campephilus illustrations from Malherbe's work will be coming here soon!

This image within the public domain appears here courtesy of the Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University in the City of New York.

Crimson-bellied Woodpecker

Image in the public domain, courtesy of Cornell University Library

Digital Collections, Fuertes Illustration Collection at

http://cidc.library.cornell.edu/Fuertes2000/BirdView.asp?From=bbn&QY=w&Size=2&BirdID=1760

                              Context: Annotation: "Campephilus Peruvian Andes"

                              Date: 1911c.

                              Location: Rare and Manuscript Collections

                              Medium: Pencil;Watercolor

                              ID Number: 2662-800-0670 

                              Size: 9" x 5.75" 

                              Support: Paper

                             Type: Studies;Watercolors

                             Title: Crimson-bellied Woodpecker

Crimson-crested Woodpecker

Crimson-crested Woodpecker - Metropolitan Park Panama_MG_2278-291, originally uploaded by fveronesi1.

I love the clarity, colors and composition in this photo!  It's a beautiful female Crimson-crested Woodpecker in the Metropolitan National Park, Panama very close to Panama City.  The male's head is virtually all red, whereas females - as depicted by the bird in this photo - display a whitish area around the bill that extends into a broad black-bordered white moustache.   So the female Crimson-crested Woodpecker has a moustache and the male has no moustache at all.  Imagine that! 

Check out this photo of the male bird by the same photographer:  See it here.

Thanks to fveronensi1 for this Creative Commons licensed photo.

Crimson-crested Woodpecker

Crimson-crested Woodpecker - Metropolitan Park Panama_MG_2682-361, originally uploaded by fveronesi1.

This photo of a male Crimson-crested Woodpecker was taken in the Metropolitan National Park, Panama - amazingly close to Panama City!

Check out a few key identification marks of the species. The male's head is almost all red and has a small black and white oval patch. Both the male and female show white around the base of the bill. The locale where this photo was taken along with the dark bill indicate that this bird is of the malherbii subspecies (named after Alfred Malherbe) as compared with the species in the southern part of its range.

View the Crimson-crested Woodpecker's Range Map.

Thanks to fveronesi1 for this Creative Commons licensed photo.

Pájaro Carpintero vs Serpiente

Originally posted 10/9/10 - backdated to organize posts by topic.

This dramatic video of a male Crimson-crested Woodpecker defending its nest against a Yellow-bellied Puffing Snake has been around for quite a while.  I've resisted posting it here because I cannot trace it to its owners.   If anyone has the information on who this video belongs to, I'd be grateful to receive it so I can give due credit.

Here's an interesting comment from snakescientist on YouTube: 

For anyone interested, the snake species is Pseustes sulphureus, and are native to the Amazon river basin. They are non venomous, semi arboreal, and feed on rodents, birds, etc. Obviously, they are quite adept at raiding birds' nests and consuming nestling birds and eggs. The woodpecker is defending the nest site against attack.

Many of you have already seen this video.  If so, it's worth another viewing.  And I'm sure it will be a first-time view here for someone!

Crimson-crested Woodpecker in Ecuador

Originally posted 11/11/10 - backdated to organize posts by topic.

Ecuador 2010, originally uploaded by L. Kay.

This photo of a male Crimson-crested Woodpecker shows the white feathering at the base of the bird's bill very well along with the black that extends from its neck to upper breast. Thanks to Larry Kay for granting permission to post his photo taken in Ecuador here.

Crimson-crested Woodpecker in Colombia

Originally posted 8/27/12 - backdated to organize posts by topic.

Here's some nice video footage of a beautiful female Crimson-crested Woodpecker looking around her forest somewhere in Colombia. You may want to change the settings for this one to 1080p HD at your end (in the video box) to enjoy it at highest quality.

Carpintero Real Pico Amarillo

Originally posted 8/24/11 - backdated to organize posts by topic.

Carpintero real pico amarillo a photo by barloventomagico on Flickr.

A beautiful female Crimson-crested Woodpecker, Carpintero real pico amarillo, appears here in a fine photo by barloventomagico.  This bird's image was captured at La Pomarrosa Farm, Barlovento in north-central Venezuela.

Photo posted here under Creative Commons License. 

Put Put Putta!

Originally posted 5/8/10 - backdated to organize posts by topic.

This video is best viewed in the enhanced version.  Be sure to click 360p in the lower right corner of the frame above and select 480p as soon as it starts to play.

When they are not keeping silent, Crimson-crested Woodpeckers exhibit a great variety of calls.  In this brief video clip, a female Crimson-crested Woodpecker makes a series of vocalizations that sounds a bit like wild laughter!  In their book Woodpeckers, Hinkler, et al., remark that in these birds,

 Shrill, piping put put puttas, which may be kept up for minutes,

indicates great excitement.

Funny, the title of this video on YouTube is Амазонский малиновохохлый дятел (Pileated Woodpecker).

Reference
- Woodpeckers: A Guide to the Woodpeckers of the World by H. Winkler, D. A. Christie & D. Nurney

Pica-Pau-de-Topete-Vermelho

Originally posted 7/1/2011 - backdated to organize posts by topic.

pica-pau-de-topete-vermelho (Campephilus melanoleucos), a photo by Alessandro Abdala on Flickr.

Enjoy one of the finest photos that I have ever seen of  a male Pica-Pau-de-Topete-Vermelho, the Crimson-crested Woodpecker.  It's difficult to imagine the colors, detail and lighting being any better than what we see here!   This photo was taken in Sacramento MG - Brasil by Allesandro Abdala, a designer, photographer and published writer.  It is posted here with his permission.  To see more of A. Abdala's amazingly beautiful photography, visit his site here:

www.alessandroabdala.com

Crimson-crested Woodpecker

This video of a female Crimson-crested Woodpecker from YouTube is nice and clear.

Crimson-crested Woodpecker

IMG_2433_crimson crested woodpecker--female, originally uploaded by joel n rosenthal.
Many thanks to Joel N. Rosenthal for granting permission to post this photo of a female Crimson-crested Woodpecker.

Pica-pau-de-topete-vermelho - Pantanal-MS,BR

Originally posted 7/17/2011 - backdated to organize posts by topic.

In this brief, interesting video you'll see a male Crimson-crested Woodpecker working on a rotting tree trunk in Brazil.

Crimson-crested Woodpeckers

This beautiful illustration of a female Crimson-crested Woodpecker (upper left) and one male comes from the four-volume Monographie des picidées (1859-1862), French ornithologist Alfred Malherbe (1804 -1865) (or 1804-1866?).  I believe the bird on the lower left is a juvenile female.  Describing every known species of woodpecker, the monograph was printed in 100 (or 120?) copies and accompanied by hand-colored lithographs.  No surprise, the Wikipedia entry on Alfred Malherbe in French at this link contains more information than the English entry.

A bit more information about this work appears at Zoonomen.net at this link and also see a very detailed mention of it in The Ibis, A Magazine of General Ornithology, Vol. I, 1859
at this link.  (You'll want to search for "Malherbe" using your browser if you visit the above two pages).

As for the price of Malherbe's magnificent work, a Google books scan of American Book-Prices Current, Volume 13 lists the 4 volumes with 121 colored plates at a mere $46.

Flash forward to November 11, 1992 and the work sold for $12,482 at Christie's, according to this link here!

Crimson-crested Woodpecker in French Guiana

Originally posted 1/31/11 - backdated to organize posts by topic.

Campephilus melanoleucos, originally uploaded by mazama973.

Here's a nice photo of a female Crimson-crested Woodpecker taken in northeast French Guiana by Michel Giraud-Audine and posted here with permission. French Guiana lies north of Brazil and east of Suriname on the northeast coast of South America. The Red-necked Woodpecker is the other member of the Campephilus genus that can be found there.

Crimson-crested Woodpecker

Carpintero real picoamarillo [Crimson-crested Woodpecker] (Campephilus melanoleucos melanoleucos) (♂), originally uploaded by barloventomagico.

Here is a male Crimson-crested Woodpecker, taking in some sunshine.  The photographer noted the place of this photo as La Pomarrosa Farm, Barlovento, north center Venezuela.  Creative Commons licensed photo.

Crimson-crested Woodpecker

Crimson Crested Woodpecker, originally uploaded by crookrw.

A male Crimson-crested Woodpecker, seemingly pausing for his portrait.  Creative Commons licensed photo.

Crimson-crested Woodpecker

This photo originally uploaded by leo! on Flickr.

Here is a beautiful photo of a female Crimson-crested Woodpecker sitting on a bare tree trunk.

And let's take a closer look at her marvelous red and black crest!  Creative Commons licensed photo.

This photo originally uploaded by leo! on Flickr.

Crimson-crested Woodpecker with Raised Crest Feathers

Originally posted 9/10/2010 - backdated to organize posts by topic.

Playing hide 'n seek #4, originally uploaded by wmlub.

Here's a very nice photo of a female Crimson-crested Woodpecker raising her black and red crest. It's no surprise that woodpeckers can raise and lower their crest feathers. But the fact that the crest is relaxed, or lowered, more often than it is raised makes photos like this one quite uncommon! Thanks to wmlub for granting permission to post his photo here.

Crimson-crested Woodpeckers - Ladies Club

ladies club, originally uploaded by brodmann's 17.

Many thanks to brodmann's 17 from Flickr for granting permission to post this amazing photo of two female Crimson-crested Woodpeckers here.

The Crimson-crested Woodpecker, Light and Dark-billed

Originally posted 8/7/10 - backdated to organize posts by topic.

I hope that you are enjoying whatever season it happens to be wherever you are in the world. It's been quite a while since my last post because I've been on vacation in northwestern Spain and Portugal, where I was hoping to see the Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) and the Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis), each for the first time.

Fortunately, I found them in Galicia, Spain (GSWO, in a recently burned section of a pine forest) and in Ponte de Lima, Portugal (GRWO, in a riparian forest), both in the very early morning hours. I was thrilled to see them, though my photos of the birds are nothing special.

You can see super photos and read numerous posts on both birds over at Woodpeckers of Europe at these links:

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Green Woodpecker

Now, back to those woodpecker's larger relatives, within the Campephilus genus, here are two illustrations for you.

Light bill, dark bill.  These illustrations from Alfred Mahlerbe's Monographie des Picidées both depict the Crimson-crested Woodpecker (so far as I can tell!).  The nominate species with the greyish-ivory to almost white bill appears above, and it has a range in South America east of the Andes mountains, south to Argentina and Brazil.  A subspecies is illustrated below, and it is named after Malherbe.  It has a dark grey to brown-grey bill and ranges from western Panama to north and west Columbia.

These illustrations are within the public domain and appear here courtesy of the Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University in the City of New York. 

Reference

- Woodpeckers: A Guide to the Woodpeckers of the World by H. Winkler, D. A. Christie & D. Nurney

Confusion Species - Lineated Woodpecker

Carpintero real barbirrayado [Lineated Woodpecker] (Dryocopus lineatus lineatus) (♂), originally uploaded by barloventomagico.

The Lineated Woodpecker (Dryocopus lineatus), a relative of the Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus), is often confused with the Crimson-crested Woodpecker, and vice versa. But by comparing this picture with those of the Crimson-crested Woodpecker, the differences do become obvious. The red mustache and full red crest of this bird tells us it's a male.  Creative Commons licensed photo.

Two Woodpeckers, in Mexico

Originally posted 1/4/10 - backdated to organize posts by topic.

 

UPDATE:  After posting this photo, a friend of mine expressed doubt that the topmost bird is a Lineated Woodpecker.  For example, the tail feathers much more closely resemble those of a Pale-billed Woodpecker.  Also, the white markings on lineateds do not typically come together in the "V" shape apparent here on the bird's back whereas they do meet like that in pale-bills.   So, based on appearance alone, I'd call both of these birds as pale-bills.  In corresponding with John Lofgreen, he maintains that he did indeed observe and capture a Lineated Woodpecker as the upper bird in this image.   In any event, it's an interesting and pleasing image that I'm grateful to have here.
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Here is another photo that is extraordinary because it includes two species of woodpeckers that are rarely photographed together.   The Pale-billed Woodpecker belongs to the Campephilus genus.   The Lineated Woodpecker belongs to the Dryocopus genus (the same genus that Pileated and Black Woodpeckers belong to). These two birds look similar and so are confusion species.  It is not uncommon to see each bird listed as the other species on photos posted on the web.

Many thanks to John Lofgreen of Anchorage, Alaska for sharing this photo here.  He almost caught a third woodpecker species with these two!  As he wrote:

This is another photo from Singayta. The lower bird on the left, is a Pale-billed Woodpecker. The upper bird is a Lineated Woodpecker. This was the last photo on that roll of film. While I was changing rolls, a Golden-cheeked Woodpecker landed next to them, but all three birds were gone before I was ready to shoot again. What a photo it would have been.

 John is a published wildlife artist.  You can find more of his beautiful work here:

 at his site John Lofgreen Wildlife Art and at his blog  The Life of a Painter

Singayta is a good bird watching location close to San Blas, Nayarit on the west coast of Mexico.

http://www.singayta.com/

Crimson-crested Woodpecker

Crimson-crested Woodpecker, originally uploaded by Charles Hesse.

Many thanks to Charles Hesse for granting permission to post this photo of a male Crimson-crested Woodpecker from Llanos de Moxos, Beni.

A Pair of Crimson-crested Woodpeckers

Originally posted 4/2/10 - backdated to organize posts by topic.

Home building, originally uploaded by fredshome.

Here is a pair of Crimson-crested Woodpeckers at their nest hole. The female bird is on the right. Creative Commons licensed photo.