Guayaquil Woodpecker Campephilus gayaquilensis Scientific name definitions

The Guayaquil Woodpecker is declining and is currently classified as “near threatened.” Extensive deforestation for agriculture combined with heavy understory grazing is lessening the amount of suitable habitat available for these resident birds. Guayaquil Woodpeckers inhabit humid and dry forests, tall second growth, and mangroves where pairs or small groups often forage together on tree trunks; little is known about their actual diet. The brownish black upperparts of this woodpecker help distinguish it from the Crimson-crested Woodpecker (Campephilus melanoleucos) in areas of overlap.

32–34 cm; 230–253 g. Large woodpecker. Male has small black and white oval spot on rear lower ear-coverts; rest of head and crest red, sometimes black and buff of feather bases showing through; black chin and throat sometimes with red feather tips at side; neck to upper breast, mantle, scapulars and upper back black, white stripe down side of neck and mantle to centre of back; lower back to uppertail-coverts variably barred pale whitish-buff and blackish, central part of back and rump sometimes all blackish; upperwing brownish-black to black, flight-feathers browner with small cinnamon or buff patch on inner webs; uppertail dark brown to black-brown; whitish-buff to pale cinnamon-buff lower breast to undertail-coverts barred brownish-black, bars narrower on lower underparts; underwing white, pale cinnamon at bases of primaries, brown tip and trailing edge; long bill chisel-tipped, culmen slightly curved, broad across nostrils, greyish, paler lower mandible; iris pale yellow; legs grey-brown to greenish-grey. Differs from C. melanoleucos mainly in lacking pale area around bill base. Female has broad creamy malar stripe joining with white neck stripe, black patch at lower rear ear-coverts, fully black chin and throat. Juvenile as adult but normally less barred rump and underparts, male head pattern much as adult female but some red tips in white malar, female with black band through crown centre and dark cheekband back to hindneck, patch of white on rear side of head.

W slope of Andes and adjacent lowlands from SW Colombia (SW Cauca) S to NW Peru (S to Cajamarca).

Details of diet not documented; probably similar to C. melanoleucos. Often in pairs. Forages on dead branches in canopy and in emergent trees; easily detected by its loud hammering.

Rather similar to C. melanoleucos. Commonest call is a liquid, rolling “kwi-kwi-kwe-rrrrrrr”, often given upon alighting on a tree trunk; when excited, “kwik-kwik-kwikerrr” and “kik-kwiddit” notes, and variations on this theme for long periods. Drumming a one-second long roll comprising 4–7 strikes (typically six), the first loud and forceful, the rest weaker, and is often the case that only the first two are audible at any distance (1 Ridgely, R. S., and P. J. Greenfield (2001). The Birds of Ecuador. Volumes 1–2. Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca, New York, USA. Close ).

Season at least Oct and May; in W Ecuador, excavating nest in Jul (2 Pople, R. G., I. J. Burfield, R. P. Clay, D. R. Cope, C. P. Kennedy, B. López, J. Reyes, B. Warren, and E. Yagual (1997). Bird Surveys and Conservation Status of Three Sites in Western Ecuador. Final Report of Project Ortalis ’96. CSB Conservation Publications, Cambridge, UK. Close ) and pair with immature seen in Oct (3 Mischler, T. (2012). Status, abundance, seasonality, breeding evidence and an updated list of the birds of Cerro Blanco, Guayaquil, Ecuador. Cotinga 34:60–72. Close ). No further details known.