Bird Guide

Black-cheeked Woodpecker vs Hoffmann's Woodpecker

Black-cheeked Woodpecker (Melanerpes pucherani)

Black-cheeked Woodpecker

Melanerpes pucherani

Medium62 gForest

The black-cheeked woodpecker is 17 to 19 cm (6.7 to 7.5 in) long and weighs 42 to 68 g (1.5 to 2.4 oz). The sexes' plumage is alike except for their head pattern. Adult males have a golden yellow forehead and a red crown and nape. Adult females have a white to buffy white forehead, a black central crown, and a red hindcrown and nape. Both sexes have black around the eye that extends down the side of the neck and a white line behind the eye. Their upper back has black and white bars and their lower back and uppertail coverts are white with a pale buff tinge and sometimes some blackish bars.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Recording: Niels Krabbe · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Arthur Chapman · CC BY 2.0
Hoffmann's Woodpecker (Melanerpes hoffmannii)

Hoffmann's Woodpecker

Melanerpes hoffmannii

Medium72 gWoodland

Hoffmann's woodpecker is 18 to 21 cm (7.1 to 8.3 in) long and weighs 62 to 84 g (2.2 to 3.0 oz). The sexes' plumage is alike except for their head pattern. Adult males have a dull white forecrown and supercilium, a bright red crown, and a bright yellow or orange nape. Adult females have a dull white crown and a pale yellow nape. Both sexes' faces and the sides of their throat are drab yellowish gray. Their back and upper rump are barred black and white and the lower rump and uppertail coverts are unbarred white. Their flight feathers are black with white bars throughout and some white spots.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Forest Botial-Jarvis · CC BY 4.0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Black-cheeked Woodpecker and Hoffmann's Woodpecker.