The Story
I photographed this female Chestnut Woodpecker (Celeus elegans) at El Escondite Reserva Natural, near Villagarzón, Putumayo, Colombia, in October 2019. Males have a wide bright red patch on the cheek, which females lack. It is deep chestnut with a creamy buff crest and an ivory to yellowish bill. It eats mostly ants and termites and breaks open termite nests in trees. It often joins mixed-species flocks, foraging on trunks and large limbs from the understory to the subcanopy. IUCN lists it as Least Concern. El Escondite calls itself a refuge for Amazonian biodiversity, where protecting the environment goes together with conscious tourism.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6, at 1/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800. It occurs in several protected areas, though its numbers are believed to be decreasing.
©2020 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Chestnut Woodpecker (Celeus elegans) 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 decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List