The Story
This adult Spot-breasted Woodpecker (Colaptes punctigula) perched beside its fledgling in dense greenery near Puerto Nariño, in Amazonas, Colombia, showing golden-olive plumage with fine black spots and red on the nape. The species feeds almost entirely on ants, eating adults, larvae and pupae. Both sexes dig the nest cavity, usually in a living or dead tree but sometimes in a fence post. It is found in Panama and in most mainland South American countries, up to about 1,500 meters in Colombia. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I made this frame with a Canon R5 and the RF 800mm f/11 plus the RF 1.4x extender, at 1/500 sec, f/16, ISO 1600, −1 EV. Puerto Nariño has no cars, and in 2012 it became the first town in Colombia certified for sustainable tourism.
©2024 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Spot-breasted Woodpecker (Colaptes punctigula) 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