Three Species of Campephilus Woodpeckers - Crimson-crested, Guayaquil, and Pale-billed Woodpeckers by George F. Sandström

Illustration by George F. Sandström, © Delaware Museum of Natural History

Enjoy this remarkable illustration by George F. Sandström of three species of woodpeckers within the Campephilus genus which appears on Plate 81 of Woodpeckers of the World by Lester L. Short, published by the Delaware Museum of Natural History (1982). The two birds at the upper portion of the illustration are a male Crimson-crested Woodpecker (on the left) and a female Crimson-crested Woodpecker (n the right). The male of this species looks very similar to the two species depicted at the bottom of the illustration - a male Pale-billed Woodpecker (on the left) and a male Guayaquil Woodpecker.

You can find detailed profiles of two of the three species at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Birds of the World site at these links:

Crimson-crested Woodpecker

Pale-billed Woodpecker

 This illustration is posted here pursuant to permission obtained from the publisher.

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.

Male Guayaquil Woodpecker

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

Photo © Dubi Shapiro

I'm very grateful to Dubi Shapiro who shares this fantastic photo of a male Guayaquil Woodpecker with us, photographed at Milpe Reserve, Choco region.Ecuador on January 15, 2009. Dubi has a remarkable collection of wildlife photography that is most definitely worth a look!

View Dubi Shapiro's photos here at pbase

Female Guayaquil Woodpecker in Ecuador

Originally posted 11/29/12 - backdated to organize posts by topic.

Ecuador-2012-02-17-596, a photo by C&P_Pics on Flickr.

The Guayaquil Woodpecker is one of the relatively seldom photographed species within the Campephilus genus. Here we have a beautiful image of a female Guayaquil Woodpecker captured by Charles Cruze in Ecuador. This sex and species closely resembles the female Crimson-crested Woodpecker, but in the Guayaquil W. the white does not extend above the base of the bill the way it does in the other bird, and the entire head is red. The forecrown in female Crimson-crested W. is black.

Get New Posts Delivered to Your Inbox!

Guayaquil woodpecker

Guayaquil woodpecker, originally uploaded by joel n rosenthal.
Many thanks to Joel N. Rosenthal for granting permission to post this photo of a male Guayaquil Woodpecker.

Guayaquil Woodpecker in Flight

guayaquil in flight, originally uploaded by brodmann's 17.

It's quite rare to find photos of Campephilus woodpeckers in flight. Many thanks to brodmann's 17 from Flickr for granting permission to post this spectacular photo of a male Guayaquil Woodpecker here!

Guayaquil Woodpecker Video

Originally posted 10/29/10 - backdated to organize posts by topic.

In this brief video of a male Guayaquil Woodpecker at the Ayampe River in Ecuador, you'll observe it looking around and drumming.  This video by videoclientesm  includes a link in its description to a bird tour site called Sword Billed Expeditions.  Press play, then change the setting at the lower right of the video box from 360p to 480p to watch it at higher resolution.

Birds of Peru by Thomas S. Schulenberg describes the typical voice and drumming of this bird as follows:   

Call like that of Crimson-crested Woodpecker.  Drum is heavy, dying away at the end, 4-7 strikes.

Guayaquil & Red-necked Woodpecker Illustration

Originally posted 11/24/10 - backdated to organize posts by topic.

The large bird depicted in this hand-colored lithograph by Delahaye appears in Alfred Malherbe's Monographie des picidées (1859-1862).  It is a Guayaquil Woodpecker, listed here with its old name Mégapic de Sclater.  Curiously, the sex of the bird is noted as male, and that appears to be an error.  The male Guayaquil Woodpecker's head is entirely red, but for a small black and white patch below its ear.   The female Guayaquil Woodpecker possesses a white band extending from the base of its bill to its white neck stripe.

The two pairs of birds in this illustration are two subspecies of the Red-necked Woodpecker.  While most of the illustrations in this work are excellent, these do not quite capture the splendid appearance of this bird.  It must have proved very challenging to draw these relatively large birds to such a small scale!

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

Guayaquil Woodpecker

big redhead, originally uploaded by brodmann's 17.

Many thanks to brodmann's 17 from Flickr for granting permission to post this striking photo of a male Guayaquil Woodpecker here