The Story
I photographed this Lineated Woodpecker (Dryocopus lineatus) at the Kairi Lodge Natural Reserve, near Manizales, Caldas, Colombia, in February 2020. This very large woodpecker lives from southern Mexico to northern Argentina and Trinidad. Adults are mainly black above, with a red crest and whitish lines from the bill down the neck. Its call is a loud, ringing wic-wic-wic. It eats mostly ants, beetles and their larvae, and both sexes dig the nest hole in a dead tree. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I used a Pentax K-1 with the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 for this one, at 1/160 sec, f/5.6, ISO 3200. Destino Caldas lists the endemic Colombian Chachalaca and the Black-winged Saltator among the special birds that visitors look for at Kairi.
©2020 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Lineated Woodpecker (Dryocopus lineatus) belongs to the family Picidae (Woodpeckers) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2025), with the population trend listed as increasing. Source: IUCN Red List
