The Story
I photographed this Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus) at Hostal Monte Verde, near Santa Rosa de Copán, Honduras. It is found from the western United States through Central America to Colombia, and in Central America it rarely lives below 1,000 meters. Its call sounds almost like laughter, and it digs its nest cavity in a dead tree or a dead limb. IUCN lists it as Least Concern. It is known for its cooperative family groups and for storing acorns in granaries, trees drilled with hundreds of holes.
I made this frame with a Canon R5 and the RF 800mm f/11 plus the RF 1.4x extender, at 1/90 sec, f/16, ISO 1600. Hostal Monte Verde is one of the birding stops on the routes of COAS Copán, the local club that held Santa Rosa de Copán’s first bird festival in 2022.
©2022 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus) 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 2024), with the population trend listed as increasing. Source: IUCN Red List