Monday, December 30, 2013

Invasive Mink Preys on Magellanic Woodpeckers on Navarino Island in Southern Chile


Here's a great video of a female Magellanic Woodpecker excavating a cavity.


In a recent study, Jaime Jiménez and his research colleagues document predation of Magellanic Woodpeckers by invasive American minks on Navarino Island in Southern Chile. Navarino Island is a 955-square mile (2,473 kilometers) area located between Tierra del Fuego to the north and Cape Horn to the south. Mink apparently arrived on the island in the 1990s. Magellanic Woodpeckers are accustomed to an intensive level of feeding on the ground on the island, something they are not as prone to do on the mainland where three species of foxes and other potential predators exist.

The Magellanic Woodpecker is a charismatic species notable for being the largest extant woodpecker in the Americas (after the Imperial and Ivory-billed Woodpeckers, other members of the Campephilus genus that are possibly extinct). The authors present a compelling argument for broadening current management actions to control the mink population in order to protect the Magellanic Woodpecker and other less noticed native species.

Jiménez, Jaime E., et al. "Potential impact of the Alien American Mink (Neovison vison) on Magellanic woodpeckers (Campephilus magellanicus) in Navarino Island, Southern Chile." Biological Invasions (2013): 1-6.

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Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Red-necked Woodpecker Species Account

pica-pau-de-barriga-vermelha femea by vhobusfoto

I recently authored a detailed species account on the Red-necked Woodpecker at Neotropical Birds Online (NBO).  It begins: 


The Red-necked Woodpecker is a large, spectacular Campephilus woodpecker of the rainforest.
 It is fairly common in Colombia and Venezuela and across the Guianas, and south through
 Amazonia to northern Bolivia.  

Each species account in NBO includes information on the identification, distribution, life history, conservation, and research references for a particular bird along with image and sound files for that species.  Visit NBO to read more about profiled Neotropical bird species and to see how you may contribute to authoring or enhancing additional species accounts!




The superb photo you see here is a female Red-necked Woodpecker near Matto Grasso, Brazil.  It is posted here with permission of talented wildlife photographer Valdir Hobus

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Carpintero Lomo Blanco

Carpintero Lomo Blanco by Javier Parigini
Carpintero Lomo Blanco, a photo by Javier Parigini on Flickr.
What an amazing portrait this is of a pair of Cream-backed Woodpeckers! The male is perched on the side of the tree, distinguished by his entirely red head with that black and white oval patch. The female is perched at the cavity, and she is distinguished by her black colored forehead and center of crest, and that rather dramatic looking white patch from the base of her bill tapering to a point below the rear of her ear coverts.

This fine photo was taken by Javier Parigini, and it is posted here with his permission.


Sunday, September 22, 2013

Powerful Woodpecker at Rio Blanco in Colombia

What a fine-looking male Powerful Woodpecker here in profile in full sunlight! Sexing this species is easy enough because the female's crest is black. This fine photo was taken by Francesco Veronesi at Rio Blanco, Colombia. It is posted here under Creative Commons license.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Ivory-billed Woodpeckers & Others in the Campephilus Genus

Click the image below to check out one of the largest collections of 
Campephilus woodpecker photos on the Internet!


You will find them in a Flickr group that I moderate called "Ivory-billed Woodpeckers & Others in the Campephilus Genus." Contributors share photos with this group on a weekly basis, so this marvelous collection of 4,985+ images is always growing!