Like a Bird From Home

Female crimson-crested woodpecker from behind (photo from Wikimedia Commons)
Female crimson-crested woodpecker from behind (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

From behind this bird looks a lot like a pileated woodpecker, but when you see its face and belly you know it’s something different.

Crimson-crested woodpecker (photo from Wikimedia Commons)
Crimson-crested woodpecker (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Female crimson-crested woodpeckers (above) aren’t as colorful as the males.

Male crimson-crested woodpecker (photo from Wikimedia Commons)
Male crimson-crested woodpecker (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Native to Panama and northern South America, the crimson-crested woodpecker (Campephilus melanoleucos) resembles a pileated woodpecker but its closest North American relative is the ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis), a probably-extinct bird that was reported once in Arkansas in 2004 but never seen again.

It’s like a bird from home, but not the one we thought.

 

(photos from Wikimedia Commons; click on the images to see the originals)

p.s. At home in Pittsburgh, trying to catch up.

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