Choco Woodpecker Dryobates chocoensis Scientific name definitions

This poorly known species is considered “near threatened” in its restricted range due to deforestation and subsequent habitat loss. It is seldom seen and the population is thought to be declining (BirdLife International). Choco Woodpeckers inhabit humid and wet forests where pairs sometimes join mixed-species flocks. Other life history details are currently lacking.

15–16 cm; c. 30 g. Male has buffish forehead, blackish crown with broad red feather tips, dull golden nape and upper neck side; brownish-buff lores and side of head , obscurely streaked darker at rear, often some pale tips (can appear variegated); pale buffish chin and upper throat spotted or barred darker, sometimes almost fully dark; bronzy golden-green above , mantle and scapulars often suffused red, obscure pale yellow shaft streaks, rump and uppertail-coverts barred olive and yellowish; wing-coverts with small, obscure pale yellow spots, mostly on medians; dark brown flight-feathers edged olive-yellow, barred buffish, tertials sometimes tinged red; uppertail dark brown, barred yellowish, bars most pronounced on outer tail; underparts barred olive and whitish-buff, underwing barred pale and dark; rather short bill straight or slightly curved, broad across nostrils, dark, paler lower mandible; iris red-brown to brown; legs dark olive, tinged grey or green. Distinguished from very similar V. cassini by slightly brighter upperparts, dark bars below less blackish; from V. affinis by generally somewhat smaller size, slightly darker coloration, and less red on upperparts. Female differs from male in having crown dark olive-brown, becoming yellow-streaked on nape. Juvenile as adult but looser-plumaged, with streaked face side, both sexes with red-tipped crown feathers, on female confined mostly to central area.

W Colombia (W Antioquia S to Nariño) and NW Ecuador (S to NW Pichincha).

Details not known; diet presumably as for V. affinis. Pair seen foraging with mixed-species party in primary forest in Jul and Jan in SW Colombia (Nariño).

Details apparently not documented, but said to differ to some extent from V. cassini and V. affinis.