The Story
I photographed this Golden-fronted Woodpecker (Melanerpes aurifrons) at Hostal Monte Verde, near Santa Rosa de Copán, Honduras. It lives from Texas and Oklahoma through Mexico to parts of Central America and stays in its range all year. Its diet mixes adult and larval arthropods with plenty of fruit, nuts and corn, and both sexes dig the nest cavity in a living or dead trunk or limb. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I used a Canon R5 with the RF 800mm f/11 plus the RF 1.4x extender for this one, at 1/90 sec, f/16, ISO 3200. 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 Golden-fronted Woodpecker (Melanerpes aurifrons) 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 stable. Source: IUCN Red List