The Story
I photographed this female Red-crowned Woodpecker (Melanerpes rubricapillus) at Finca Ecoturística San Javier, in the vereda Chucuní near Ibagué, Tolima, Colombia. It is found from Costa Rica and Panama to Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas and Tobago, mostly from sea level to about 1,700 meters. It is a year-round resident, and its flight feathers are black with white bars throughout. Pairs stay together year-round, and both sexes excavate the nest hole. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I made this frame with a Canon R5 and the RF 800mm f/11, at 1/45 sec, f/11, ISO 800. Finca San Javier began as a pig farm in 1997 and turned to ecotourism in 2017, offering guided birding and aiming to help conserve tropical dry forest.
©2022 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Red-crowned Woodpecker (Melanerpes rubricapillus) 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 stable. Source: IUCN Red List