The Story
This Red-crowned Woodpecker (Melanerpes rubricapillus) was at Hacienda Guadalajara in Palmira, Valle del Cauca, Colombia when I photographed it. 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. Its tail is black with white bars on the central and outer feathers. Palmira lies on the east bank of the Cauca River and is a center of the valley’s large sugar mills.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6, at 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600. IUCN lists the Red-crowned Woodpecker as Least Concern, with a stable population.
©2020 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