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Doesn’t this bird look a lot like a red-bellied woodpecker?

This is a red-crowned woodpecker (Melanerpes rubricapillus), photographed by Charlie Hickey in Costa Rica.

There are nine Melanerpes woodpeckers that look very similar.  Most of them live in the tropics; some are island species.  I’ve noted below where you can see three species in the U.S.

• Jamaican Woodpecker, Melanerpes radiolatus
• Golden-cheeked Woodpecker, Melanerpes chrysogenys
• Yucatan Woodpecker, Melanerpes pygmaeus
• Red-crowned Woodpecker, Melanerpes rubricapillus
• Hoffmann’s Woodpecker, Melanerpes hoffmannii
• Gila Woodpecker, Melanerpes uropygialis (Arizona)
• Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Melanerpes aurifrons (Oklahoma & Texas)
• Red-bellied Woodpecker, Melanerpes carolinus (eastern North America)
• West Indian Woodpecker, Melanerpes superciliaris

Biologically speaking, this is more than a “family” resemblance  It’s at the genus level.

(photo by Charlie Hickey)