White-browed Woodpecker Piculus aurulentus Scientific name definitions

Also known, equally appropriately as the Yellow-browed Woodpecker, as the species’ narrow supercilium appears whitish yellow in the field, this species is an Atlantic Forest endemic. It ranges from southeast Brazil, as far north as Espírito Santo, south to northeast Argentina and eastern Paraguay, as well as Rio Grande do Sul, in southernmost Brazil. The species’ plumage is broadly typical of the genus Piculus, consisting of olive-green back and wings, a wholly red crown (in males) and malar, yellow throat, and dark- and pale-barred underparts. In Brazil, the White-browed Woodpecker is generally restricted to montane forest, but the species occurs lower elsewhere in its range, and is currently considered Near Threatened by BirdLife International.

21–22 cm; 22–68 g. Male has bright red forehead  to nape with very thin olive border, narrow pale yellowish-white supercilium  from eye to nape side; dark olive-green area around eye, ear-coverts and rear neck side, pale yellow band from lores to neck side, red malar stripe  becoming green at rear; pale golden chin and throat, often some red on side of chin; olive-green hindneck and upperparts , including tertials, sometimes with faint bronze tinge; dark brown flight-feathers edged greenish, dark-barred cinnamon-rufous patch on inner webs; uppertail blackish; whitish underparts densely and broadly barred dark olive, cinnamon-rufous underwing mostly barred black; medium-length bill slightly curved on culmen, fairly broad across nostrils, blackish-grey, paler base of lower mandible; iris chestnut-brown, orbital ring dark grey; legs greenish-grey. Distinguished from <em>P. chrysochloros</em> by pale supercilium, whiter underparts with broader dark bars. Female differs from male in having forehead and crown olive, occasionally with golden tips, and only little red in malar. Juvenile  much as respective adult, but duller, with coarser barring.

SE Brazil (São Paulo, E Minas Gerais and W Espírito Santo S to Rio Grande do Sul), E Paraguay, NE Argentina (Misiones, NE Corrientes) and recently recorded in extreme N Uruguay (Cerro Largo) (1 Azpiroz, A.B. and Menéndez, J.L. (2008). Three new species and novel distributional data for birds in Uruguay. Bull. Brit. Orn. Club 128(1): 38–56. Close ).

Humid montane forest, forest edge, and dense second growth and woodland; also humid lowland forest. Present at 750–2000 m in Brazil, though generally lower in Paraguay and Argentina.

Presumably resident.

Ants and their larvae and eggs. Also recorded taking fruit  . Singly  or in pairs. Forages in middle tiers, by gleaning and pecking .

Single, sharp loud note , and descending series of plaintive “eeeww” notes. Drums in rapid, regular rolls.

Sept in Argentina. Nest high up, to 7 m, in tree. In SE Brazil recorded building nest in Ago  (2 Kirwan, G. M. (2009). Notes on the breeding ecology and seasonality of some Brazilian birds. Revista Brasileira de Ornitologia 17(2):121–136. Close ) and Nov  , and a nestling in Oct  . No other information.

Not globally threatened. Considered Near Threatened. Rather uncommon; apparently shy in nature, and not often seen. Apparent extension towards S in Rio Grande do Sul recorded in 1994 and 1995, possibly overlooked previously. Occurs in Serra dos Órgãos and Itatiaia National Parks and Serra do Mar State Park (Brazil). Much of this species’ forest habitat has already been lost, and surviving patches continue to be destroyed by clearance and uncontrolled fires; montane forest in SE Brazil appears to have remained more intact, providing a relatively safe refuge, but this situation could easily change for the worse. Further field studies required to determine more about this woodpecker’s requirements, and monitoring of the population is desirable.