Bird Guide

Chestnut-colored Woodpecker vs Cinnamon Woodpecker

Chestnut-colored Woodpecker (Celeus castaneus)

Chestnut-colored Woodpecker

Celeus castaneus

Medium86 gForest

The chestnut-colored woodpecker is 21.5 to 25 cm (8.5 to 9.8 in) long and weighs 80 to 105 g (2.8 to 3.7 oz). Both sexes' heads are dull ochraceous or tawny with a pointed crest. Males are bright red from the lores to behind the eye and down to the throat; the chin and upper throat sometimes also have some red. Females have no red. Both sexes of adults have rufous-chestnut upperparts with a cinnamon-buff rump and black bars on the back and uppertail coverts. Their flight feathers are rufous-chestnut with some dusky brown tips. Their tail feathers are dull black with chestnut bases.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Rob Foster · CC BY 4.0
Cinnamon Woodpecker (Celeus loricatus)

Cinnamon Woodpecker

Celeus loricatus

Medium77 gForest

The cinnamon woodpecker is about 19 to 23 cm (7.5 to 9.1 in) long and weighs 74 to 83 g (2.6 to 2.9 oz). Males and females have the same plumage except on their faces. Both sexes' heads are rufous with a bushy crest and black streaks on the crown. Males have a red chin, throat, and malar with black streaks, and females are the same rufous there as on the rest of their head. Both sexes of adults of the nominate subspecies C. l. loricatus have dark rufous upperparts with narrow black bars. Their flight feathers are blackish with wide rufous bars.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Cinnamon Woodpecker
Recorded by radrat · Call · Corregimiento de Cristóbal (near Gamboa), Colón, Colón Province, Panama · CC0
Photo: Aitor · CC BY 4.0

Where you might meet both

Learn this pair in the BeakBrain App

Photo and call practice. Coming soon to iPhone and Android.

Play today's Daily Bird

Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Chestnut-colored Woodpecker and Cinnamon Woodpecker.