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Splendid Woodpecker | Campephilus splendens
Subliemspecht | Carpintero espléndido | Pica-pau-carmesim-do-pacífico
The Splendid Woodpecker is the western counterpart of the Crimson-bellied Woodpecker and lives in the humid lowland and foothill forest of the Chocó, west of the Andes. It was long regarded as a subspecies of Crimson-bellied Woodpecker and is now often treated as a separate species, mainly on the basis of differences in plumage, calls and drumming. In the guide area it occurs only in western Colombia and north-western Ecuador.
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Voice
Harsh, nasal single calls, higher than in Crimson-bellied Woodpecker, and a rattle. It usually drums with a double knock.
No recording with a suitable Creative Commons licence is available for this species yet.
Identification
32–35 cm, with a long, straight, dark bill. The forehead, crown, crest and nape are red, with a black eye-stripe, a buff band below it and a black chin and throat. The upper back is black to brownish black, the lower back and rump deep red. The underparts are red, with dark barring on the lower breast and belly. The wings are black, with three rows of pale spots on the flight feathers, visible only in flight. In the male the buff band reaches the upper neck, in the female it runs along the side of the neck to the upper breast. Juveniles are duller and browner.
Confusion species
Crimson-bellied Woodpecker Campephilus haematogaster lives only east of the Andes, has more black on the upper breast and two rows of wing spots. Guayaquil Woodpecker Campephilus gayaquilensis has a white V on the back and a pale, barred belly. Lineated Woodpecker Dryocopus lineatus also has white back stripes and a pale belly.
Habitat
The interior and edges of humid and very wet lowland and foothill forest, including old secondary forest, from sea level to about 1100 m in Colombia and 800 m in Ecuador. It searches trunks, often low down, for beetle larvae and other insects. It nests in a self-excavated cavity in a tree.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia in the Pacific lowlands and the western foothills of the Andes. In Ecuador in the north-west. Absent from Peru, Bolivia and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in Panama. No map is yet available for this species.
How and when to look
In the Chocó forest of north-western Ecuador and western Colombia, listen for the double knock of the drum and the harsh calls. Birds often forage low on large trunks in the dark forest interior.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The range is fairly large, but the population is probably declining through logging, settlement, cattle ranching, mining and the planting of oil palm.
Scientific name
Campephilus splendens | Hargitt, 1889
Hargitt described the species in 1889 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Campephilus was introduced in 1840 by Gray. The genus name combines Greek kampē, 'caterpillar', with philos, 'loving'. The species name comes from Latin splendens, 'shining' or 'brilliant'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Puerto Valdivia, Antioquia, Colombia.