Campephilus leucopogon
The Cream-backed Woodpecker (*Campephilus leucopogon*) is a strikingly large and robust member of the Picidae family, endemic to South America. Measuring 31-32 cm (12-13 inches) in length and weighing between 180-280 grams (6.3-9.9 oz), it is easily identified by its distinctive creamy white to buff-colored back and rump, contrasting sharply with its glossy black head, wings, and underparts. Males boast a prominent scarlet red crest and malar stripe, while females possess an all-black crest a...
This woodpecker primarily inhabits dry to humid deciduous and semi-deciduous forests, gallery forests, and woodlands, often favoring mature stands. It can be found from lowlands up to approximately 2,000 meters (6,500 feet) in elevation.
Their diet consists predominantly of large wood-boring beetle larvae, as well as ants and other insects extracted from wood. They also occasionally consume fruits, nuts, and sap.
Cream-backed Woodpeckers are diurnal, spending their days foraging and typically roosting in excavated tree cavities at night. They employ a powerful foraging strategy, chiseling deep, often rectangular holes into dead or decaying wood to extract large wood-boring beetle larvae, though they also ...
The Cream-backed Woodpecker is a resident species distributed across a significant portion of central and southern South America, extending from southeastern Bolivia and extreme southwestern Brazil south through Paraguay, Uruguay, and much of northern and central Argentina. Its distribution inclu...
Least Concern
- The Cream-backed Woodpecker is sometimes referred to as the 'Great White Woodpecker' due to its striking pale back. - Its powerful drumming can be heard from over a kilometer away, serving as both a territorial marker and a form of communication. - Unlike many woodpeckers that probe, this speci...