The chestnut woodpecker (''Celeus elegans'') 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 lightweig ...

in subfamily Picinae of 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 region ...

family Picidae. It is found on

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

and in every mainland

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

n country except

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, t ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

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 ...

, and

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 ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The chestnut woodpecker has these six subspecies: *''C. e. hellmayri'' Berlepsch, 1908 *''C. e. deltanus'' Phelps, W.H. & Phelps, W.H. Jr., 1950 *''C. e. leotaudi''

Hellmayr Carl Eduard Hellmayr (29 January 1878 in Vienna, Austria – 24 February 1944 in Orselina, Switzerland) was an Austrian ornithologist. Biography Hellmayr was born in Vienna and studied at the University of Vienna, although he did not complete h ...

, 1906 *''C. e. elegans'' ( Müller, P.L.S. 1776) *''C. e. citreopygius'' Sclater, P.L. & Salvin, 1867 *''C. e. jumanus'' (

Spix Johann Baptist Ritter von Spix (9 February 1781 – 13 March 1826) was a German biologist. From his expedition to Brazil, he brought to Germany a large variety of specimens of plants, insects, mammals, birds, amphibians and fish. They constitute ...

, 1824) Some studies have found that subspecies ''citreopygius'' and ''jumanus'' are more closely related to the blond-crested woodpecker (''C. flavescens'') than to the other chestnut woodpecker subspecies. They have at times been treated as one or two separate species, and their exact placement is not fully resolved.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 30 January 2023. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved January 30, 2023 Several more subspecies have been proposed as divisions of the six, but all have been determined to be either indistinguishable from one of the six, an aberrant form of one of them, or a hybrid.Winkler, H. and D. A. Christie (2020). Chestnut Woodpecker (''Celeus elegans''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.chewoo2.01 retrieved February 4, 2023

Description

The chestnut woodpecker is about long. Subspecies ''C. e. hellmayri'' weighs , ''C. e. leotaudi'' weighs , and ''C. e. jumanus'' weighs . Males of all subspecies have a wide bright red malar area and cheek; females have no red. In 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 spec ...

''C. e. elegans'' adults of both sexes have a buffish cream forehead, crown, and crest. The rest of their head including the chin and throat are deep chestnut brown. They have deep rufous-chestnut upperparts with a cream-buff rump and uppertail

coverts A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which, as the name implies, cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are s ...

, and sometimes faint black bars on the back. Their flight feathers are blackish brown with rufous bars at their base. Their wing coverts have small white spots. Their tail feathers are blackish with some rufous on the outermost pair. Their underparts are dark chestnut brown; sometimes the belly and vent are lighter. Their flanks are a paler creamy cinnamon-buff and often have obscure darker bars. The adult's bill is ivory to yellow or greenish yellow, their iris red-brown to red, and their legs olive to dark gray. Juveniles are similar to adults but havea dull blackish face and darker mottling on their underparts. Subspecies ''C. e. hellmayri'' is somewhat darker than the nominate overall and especially on the crown; its wing coverts have more spots and the flight feathers more bars. ''C. e. deltanus'' is even darker on its crown than ''hellmayri''. Subspecies ''C. e. leotaudi'' is paler and brighter than the nominate and has a tawny crown and a yellower rump. ''C. e. jumanus'' is darker overall than the nominate and the three above subspecies. Its crest is shorter, its back feathers have rufous tips, its wing coverts no spots, and its flight feathers are more rufous. ''C. e. citreopygius'', like ''jumanus'', has a short crest, but is blacker overall with less rufous.

Distribution and habitat

The subspecies of the chestnut woodpecker are found thus: *''C. e. hellmayri'', eastern Venezuela, Guyana, western Suriname, and northern

Roraima Roraima (, ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil. Located in the country's North Region, it is the northernmost and most geographically and logistically isolated state in Brazil. It is bordered by the state of Pará to the southeast, Amazonas ...

in Brazil *''C. e. deltanus'', northeastern Venezuela's

Delta Amacuro Delta Amacuro State ( es, Estado Delta Amacuro, ) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, and is the location of the Orinoco Delta. The Paria Gulf and the Atlantic Ocean are found to the north, Bolívar State is found to the south, the Atlanti ...

state *''C. e. leotaudi'', Trinidad *''C. e. elegans'', eastern Suriname, French Guiana, and northern Brazil north of the Amazon between the Rio Branco and the state of

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 ...

*''C. e. citreopygius'', eastern Ecuador and eastern Peru *''C. e. jumanus'', from eastern Colombia and southern Venezuela south through western and central Brazil into northern Bolivia The chestnut woodpecker inhabits the interior and edges of both dense and lighter forests. These include ''

terra firme Terra may often refer to: * Terra (mythology), primeval Roman goddess * An alternate name for planet Earth, as well as the Latin name for the planet Terra may also refer to: Geography Astronomy * Terra (satellite), a multi-national NASA scienti ...

'',

gallery Gallery or The Gallery may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Art gallery ** Contemporary art gallery Music * Gallery (band), an American soft rock band of the 1970s Albums * ''Gallery'' (Elaiza album), 2014 album * ''Gallery'' (G ...

, and '' várzea'' forests. It also occurs in

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...

and

cocoa Cocoa may refer to: Chocolate * Chocolate * ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree * Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao'' * Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter and ...

and other plantations. In elevation it ranges from sea level to in Venezuela, to in Colombia, to in Peru, and to in Ecuador (though usually below there).

Behavior

Movement

The chestnut woodpecker is a year-round resident throughout its range.

Feeding

The chestnut woodpecker's primary food is ants and termites; fly larvae and fruit are also significant parts of its diet. It forages singly, in pairs, or in small loose groups, and frequently joins

mixed species feeding flock A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species that join each other and move together while foraging. These ar ...

s. It mostly forages from the understorey to the sub-canopy, and usually on trunks and large limbs. It captures prey by gleaning from trees and by breaking open arboreal

termitaria 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 Blattod ...

Breeding

The chestnut woodpecker breeds in April and May on Trinidad and in French Guiana; its breeding season in Venezuela and northwestern Brazil includes at least January and February. It excavates a nest cavity in a dead tree or stub. The clutch size is three eggs. The incubation period, time to fledging, and details of parental care are not known.

Vocal and non-vocal sounds

The chestnut woodpecker's territorial call is a " scending 'wewa ew-ew-ew-ew-ew-ew' or sarcastic-sounding 'har-hahaha'". It also makes "rattling screeches, e.g. 'whick-frrr' or grating 'wháa-jer'", a "wick-wick-wick-wick-wick", a "mellow 'gwarrr'", and a "nasal 'kyeenh'". Its drum is a double rap "dop-dop", given by both sexes "frequently and loudly in breeding season".

Status

The IUCN has assessed the chestnut woodpecker as being of Least Concern. It has a very large range but its population size is not known and is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified. It ranges from uncommon to very common in different parts of its range and occurs in several protected areas.

References

External links

Chestnut woodpecker photo gallery
VIREO
Photo-High Res
geometer.org–(Trinidad and Tobago)