The Story
This Black-cheeked Woodpecker (Melanerpes pucherani) landed briefly on a palm trunk near Capurganá, in Chocó, Colombia, its red crown showing against soft green. It is found from Mexico south to Ecuador. It eats a very wide variety of arthropods, including spiders, beetles and ants, as well as fruits, berries, seeds and nectar from large flowers in trees. It digs its nest hole in a dead trunk or branch, usually 4 to 30 meters above the ground.
I photographed it with a Canon R5 and the RF 800mm f/11 plus the RF 1.4x extender, at 1/180 sec, f/16, ISO 3200, −0.5 EV. IUCN lists the Black-cheeked Woodpecker as Least Concern, and since it nests in dead trunks and branches, leaving standing dead trees helps it.
©2025 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Black-cheeked Woodpecker (Melanerpes pucherani) 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 2020), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List