Ochre-backed Woodpecker vs Pale-crested Woodpecker

Ochre-backed Woodpecker

Celeus ochraceus

Medium139 gForest

The ochre-backed woodpecker is about 25 to 27 cm (9.8 to 11 in) long. Males have a wide dull red malar area and cheek; females have a streaky black malar instead of red. Adults of both sexes have a buffy or cinnamon-tinged ochre head including the long pointed crest, chin, throat, and neck. Their upperparts are cinnamon-buff to orange-ochre with black markings that vary in shape from round to heart-like. Their flight feathers are mostly black; the secondaries have wide cinnamon-buff bars and the tertials are cinnamon-buff with black bars and tips.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Descourtilz, J. T. · Public domain

Pale-crested Woodpecker

Celeus lugubris

Medium137 gWoodland

The pale-crested woodpecker is about 23 to 24 cm (9.1 to 9.4 in) long. The nominate subspecies C. l. lugubris weighs 115 to 130 g (4.1 to 4.6 oz) and C. l. kerri weighs 112 to 157 g (4.0 to 5.5 oz). Males of both subspecies have a wide bright red malar area and cheek (and sometimes around the eye); females are barred or scaly brown there instead. In the nominate subspecies, adults of both sexes have a pale blond to buffish head including the long pointed crest, chin, and throat. They have deep rufous-black upperparts with a blond to cream-buff lower back, rump, and uppertail coverts.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Joaquin Valentinuzzi · CC BY 4.0

Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Ochre-backed Woodpecker and Pale-crested Woodpecker.