The Story
This Red-crowned Woodpecker (Melanerpes rubricapillus) was at the Jardín Botánico San Jorge in Ibagué, Tolima, Colombia when I photographed it. Its tail is black with white bars on the central and outer feathers. It forages at all levels of its habitat but favors the middle and lower layers. It feeds by probing, gleaning and hammering for insects, and it pecks open fruit that is too large to swallow. Both sexes dig the nest hole, usually in a large trunk, branch or cactus, and fence posts are used too. Ibagué, the capital of Tolima, sits on the Central Andes between the Combeima Canyon and the Magdalena valley, near Nevado del Tolima.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6, at 1/1600 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400, −1 EV. IUCN lists the Red-crowned Woodpecker as Least Concern, with a stable population.
©2019 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