Bird Guide

Crimson-crested Woodpecker vs Powerful Woodpecker

Crimson-crested Woodpecker (Campephilus melanoleucos)

Crimson-crested Woodpecker

Campephilus melanoleucos

Medium256 gForest

The crimson-crested woodpecker is 33 to 36 cm (13 to 14 in) long and weighs 225 to 281 g (7.9 to 9.9 oz). It is one of the largest woodpeckers in its range, though the higher elevation powerful woodpecker (C. pollens) is roughly the same size. Both sexes of the nominate subspecies C. m. melanoleucos have black upperparts from nape to rump; their rump, wings, and tail are brownish black. They have vertical white stripes on the sides of their neck that continue onto their back and form a "V". Their flight feathers have pale white or yellow or yellowish white edges.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: http://www.birdphotos.com · CC BY 3.0
Powerful Woodpecker (Campephilus pollens)

Powerful Woodpecker

Campephilus pollens

Medium273 gForest

The powerful woodpecker is about 32 cm (13 in) long. The sexes differ only on their heads: Adult males are red from their forehead to their crest; females are black there. Both sexes of the nominate subspecies have a black and white face including the throat; the white is a wide band from the lores to below the rear of the ear coverts and from there down the side of the neck. Both sexes have a black hindneck, mantle, scapulars, and upper back with narrow white stripes on either side. Their lower back and rump are white and their uppertail coverts black.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Powerful Woodpecker
Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Drumming · Zamora-Chinchipe: above Río Blanco, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Dan Vickers · 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: Crimson-crested Woodpecker and Powerful Woodpecker.