The Story
The place
Caracolí Bird House, Villavicencio, Meta, Colombia. I photographed this Little Woodpecker here on September 15, 2025, at about 7:10 a.m.
eBird lists 94 species all-time at Caracolí Bird House (as of October 2026).
The shot
At Caracolí Bird House in Colombia’s Meta region, this male Little Woodpecker (Veniliornis passerinus) clung to a textured tree trunk, his bright red crown catching the light as he looked upward. The warm olive-brown plumage is finely barred and spotted, creating a rich, detailed pattern against the rough bark. Soft green foliage in the background keeps the focus on the bird’s alert posture and the clear red of the crown that marks adult males of the species. I used the Canon EOS R5 with the RF800mm F11 IS STM and Extender RF1.4x, at 1120 mm, 1/90 s, f/16, ISO 3200.
The bird
The Little Woodpecker (Veniliornis passerinus) 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 2018), with the population trend listed as stable. Source: IUCN Red List