Ochre-backed Woodpecker

Overview

The ochre-backed woodpecker (Celeus ochraceus) is a woodpecker species endemic to Brazil. Although it has a large range and is considered of Least Concern by the IUCN, it remains a very poorly known species for which field studies are required.

Identification

• Size: 25 to 27 cm long.
• Males possess a wide dull red malar area and cheek, while females have a streaky black malar.
• Both sexes feature a buffy or cinnamon-tinged ochre head with a long pointed crest, and upperparts are cinnamon-buff to orange-ochre with black markings.
• Calls include a loud 'tsew tsew', 'wee-wee-week', and a 'raucous wicka' or 'wícket wícket'.

Habitat

The species has a disjunct distribution in Brazil, occurring from western Pará to the Atlantic coast and from eastern Maranhão to Espírito Santo and west to Goiás. It inhabits the interior and edges of humid forest, as well as gallery forest, savanna, caatinga, and orchards.

Diet

This woodpecker feeds on arboreal ants, carpenter ants, termites, and lesser amounts of fruits and berries. It generally forages at the forest's middle level to its canopy but also on the ground, capturing prey by gleaning, probing, pecking, and hammering, usually in pairs or small groups.

Did you know?

The bird excavates its nest cavity not only in trees but also in arboreal ant nests.