Stripe-cheeked Woodpecker Piculus callopterus Scientific name definitions

Found only in Panama, Stripe-cheeked Woodpecker has a small distribution. It inhabits the edges and interior of humid forests in the foothills, and is thought to be resident year-round. Little is known about the basic ecology of Stripe-cheeked Woodpecker, but it does forage in understory or middle strata trees either by itself, or in pairs. These woodpeckers peck at tree trunks for ants and presumably other insects. Although similar in appearance to Rufous-winged Woodpecker (Piculus simplex), Stripe-cheeked Woodpecker has a dark eye, a narrow yellow cheek stripe, and heavier barring on its underparts.

c. 17 cm. Male has red forehead to hindneck, olive lores and side of head, buffy-white stripe from lores to lower edge of ear-coverts, broad red malar band  back to neck side; pale greenish chin; bronze-green upperparts, including wing-coverts and tertials; mostly cinnamon-rufous flight-feathers with dark brown bars, secondaries largely brownish-olive on outer webs; uppertail blackish, often some cinnamon-rufous on outer feathers; greenish-olive throat and upper breast, pale yellowish spots on breast tending to form bar-like pattern, rest of underparts  buffy-white with greenish-olive barring; underwing-coverts with some cinnamon-rufous; fairly short bill, culmen slightly curved, rather narrow across nostrils, blackish, paler lower mandible; iris mostly sky-blue or pale grey in colour depending on light conditions (1 Adsett, W.J. and Lieurance, L. (2015). First breeding record, vocalisations and morphology of Stripe-cheeked Woodpecker Piculus callopterus, a Panamanian endemic. Cotinga. 37: 79–86. Close ); legs olive-grey. Differs from P. simplex in dark eyes, yellow cheekstripe, more barred pattern on breast. Female  has red on head restricted to rear. Juvenile duller than adult, more irregularly barred below, with mottled or barred upper breast, males without red moustache and crown, iris perhaps duller or darker.

WC to E Panama: Veraguas, and Caribbean slope of Canal Zone to Darién.

Main call  , given by both male and female, is a nasal bi-syllabic note "nyeeeh-wheet", either given singly or in a fast series with little pauses in between. The second syllable is distinctly rising, higher in pitch and less nasal, sounding clear and resonant. Less frequently, call notes are given without this second syllable, in this case sounding very similar to P. simplex. In all cases very different from the harsh and hoarse call notes of related P. litae and P. leucolaemus. Other vocalizations include scolding and a fast chattering series of short nasal notes, presumably when excited.

A nest found in 2013 at Chagres National Park was in hole in a dead <em>Cecropia</em> trunk  c. 3·4 m high; eggs hatched in early May (1 Adsett, W.J. and Lieurance, L. (2015). First breeding record, vocalisations and morphology of Stripe-cheeked Woodpecker Piculus callopterus, a Panamanian endemic. Cotinga. 37: 79–86. Close ). Also at Chagres National Park, in Jan, a male was recorded excavating nest hole on trunk of a dead tree c. 6 m above the ground. No further information available.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Restricted-range species: present in Central American Caribbean Slope EBA and Darién Lowlands EBA. Uncommon and local. Poorly known species; research required on its breeding behaviour and other details.