The campo flicker (''Colaptes campestris'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

in the

woodpecker Woodpeckers are part of the bird family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks, and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar, and the extreme polar regions. ...

family. It is found in a wide range of open and semi-open habitats in eastern

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

and northeastern

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, with isolated populations in

Amapá Amapá () is one of the 26 states of Brazil. It is in the northern region of Brazil. It is the second least populous state and the eighteenth largest by area. Located in the far northern part of the country, Amapá is bordered clockwise by Fr ...

and southern

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

. The length of the body ranges from 28–31 cm (11.02–12.20 in), and the weight ranges from 145–192 g (0.31 lb–0.42 lb).

Taxonomy

There are two subspecies: * ''Colaptes campestris campestris'' (

Vieillot Louis Pierre Vieillot (10 May 1748, Yvetot – 24 August 1830, Sotteville-lès-Rouen) was a French ornithologist. Vieillot is the author of the first scientific descriptions and Linnaean names of a number of birds, including species he collect ...

, 1818) :: The

nominate subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

. * ''Colaptes campestris campestroides'' (

Malherbe Malherbe may refer to: People * Malherbe (surname) ** François de Malherbe (1555-1628), French poet, reformer of French language Places France * La Haye-Malherbe, municipality of Eure (département), Eure * Malherbe-sur-Ajon, new municipal ...

, 1849) :: Commonly known as the Pampas flicker. It is sometimes considered a separate species, ''Colaptes campestroides''. It is distinguished from the nominate subspecies by its throat being white rather than black, and its more southerly distribution.

Ecology

Though it frequently can be seen in trees or bushes, this species is among the very few woodpeckers that spends a significant portion of its life on the ground. It breeds in holes in trees,

termite Termites are small insects that live in colonies and have distinct castes (eusocial) and feed on wood or other dead plant matter. Termites comprise the infraorder Isoptera, or alternatively the epifamily Termitoidae, within the order Blattode ...

mounds or earth banks. It is generally common and therefore considered to be of

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

. In terms of reproduction, they are "predominantly monogamous in both cooperative group and socially monogamous pairs, but in several cooperative groups, auxiliary females contributed eggs to the next” (Dias et al. 2013). Overall, the studies showed a complex social system in the species with high reproductive conflicts both within and among groups, both due to the new potential breeder or through the effect of group size.

References

External links

* *
''Colaptes campestris''
at neotropical.birds.cornell.edu, Archived
/small>
Campo flicker
at arkive.org, Archivvary
/small>

Campo flicker The campo flicker (''Colaptes campestris'') is a species of bird in the woodpecker family. It is found in a wide range of open and semi-open habitats in eastern Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and northeastern Argentina, with isolated populati ...

Birds of Paraguay Birds of Bolivia Birds of Brazil Birds of the Guianas Birds of the Pantanal Birds of the Caatinga Birds of the Cerrado

Taxa named by Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Woodpecker-stub