Yellow-vented Woodpecker (Veniliornis dignus)

Order: Piciformes | Family: Picidae  | IUCN Status: Least Concern

yellow-vented_woodpecker
Age: Adult | Sex: Male | Loc. Eastern Andes of  Ecuador

yellow-vented_woodpecker
Age: Adult | Sex: Female | Loc. Eastern Andes of  Ecuador

yellow-vented_woodpecker
Age: Adult | Sex: Female | Loc. Eastern Andes of  Ecuador

yellow-vented_woodpecker
Age: Adult | Sex: Female | Loc. Eastern Andes of  Ecuador

Identification & Behavior: ~17 cm (6.6 in). The Yellow-vented Woodpecker has olive upperparts with pale marks on the wing coverts. The barring on the underparts is dense on the throat and breast and grades to nearly unbarred and yellow in the vent area.  The male has a red forehead, crown, and nape. The female lacks the red in the head. Both sexes show prominent pale malar stripe and superciliary line. It is similar to Golden-Olive Woodpecker but is distinguished by the pale marks on the wing coverts and the pale malar stripe and superciliary line.

Status: The Yellow-vented Woodpecker is uncommon to rare in apparently disjunct populations between 1500 – 2100 m on the east slope of the Andes. It also occurs in Co and Ec.

Name in Spanish: Carpintero de Vientre Amarillo.

Sub-species: Yellow-vented Woodpecker (Veniliornis dignus valdizani), Berlepsch and Stolzmann, 1894.

Meaning of Name: Veniliornis: Related to gender Venilia (Bonaparte, 1850); and ornis= bird. dignus: L. worthy, fitting.

See more of the Family Picidae   peru aves

Distribution Map
yellow-vented woodpecker-Voice

References:

    • Species range based on: Schulenberg, T. S., D. F. Stotz, and L. Rico. 2006. Distribution maps of the birds of Peru, version 1.0. Environment, Culture & Conservation (ECCo). The Field Museum.  http://fm2.fieldmuseum.org/uw_test/birdsofperu on 01/01/2015.