Bird Guide

Guayaquil Woodpecker vs Powerful Woodpecker

Guayaquil Woodpecker (Campephilus gayaquilensis)

Guayaquil Woodpecker

Campephilus gayaquilensis

Medium241 gWoodland

The Guayaquil woodpecker is 32 to 34 cm (13 to 13 in) long and weighs 230 to 253 g (8.1 to 8.9 oz). Both sexes' upperparts are black from their neck to upper back; their lower back to the uppertail coverts is barred with whitish buff and blackish. Their neck has white stripes on the side that continue onto the upper back and meet as a "V". Their wings' upper surface is brownish black to black; the flight feathers are browner with small cinnamon or buff spots on their inner webs.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Ben Tavener from Curitiba, Brazil · CC BY 2.0
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: Guayaquil Woodpecker and Powerful Woodpecker.