Powerful Woodpecker (Campephilus pollens) | Photos, Calls and ID

LCLeast ConcernInvertebrates

ForestCavity nestMedium · 273 g

Powerful Woodpecker (Campephilus pollens), photo 4 — Photo: Rafaella Cevallos Larrea · CC BY 4.0

Powerful Woodpecker (Campephilus pollens), photo 5 — Photo: Rafaella Cevallos Larrea · CC BY 4.0

Powerful Woodpecker (Campephilus pollens), photo 6 — Photo: Zihao Wang · CC BY 4.0

What the Powerful Woodpecker sounds like

Sonogram of the Powerful Woodpecker: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.

Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Drumming · Zamora-Chinchipe: above Río Blanco, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto

Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Call, wing noise · Zamora-Chinchipe: above Río Blanco, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto

ID tip

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.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Powerful Woodpecker

One bar for each month, and every month is filled: this bird is recorded here in all twelve. The wide bar is November, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Powerful Woodpecker

Regular rangeRare visitor

The map shades 3 countries with regular records, and 1 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

Ecuador Colombia Peru

Recorded as a rare visitor in Venezuela.

About the Powerful Woodpecker

The powerful woodpecker is a species of bird in subfamily Picinae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is found in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Guayaquil WoodpeckerCampephilus gayaquilensisThe Guayaquil woodpecker is 32 to 34 cm (13 to 13 in) long and weighs 230 to 253 g (8.1 to 8.9 oz).

Magellanic WoodpeckerCampephilus magellanicusThe Magellanic woodpecker is 36 to 45 cm (14 to 18 in) in length.

Robust WoodpeckerCampephilus robustusThe robust woodpecker is 32 to 37 cm (13 to 15 in) long and weighs 230 to 294 g (8.1 to 10 oz).

Side by side: Pale-billed Woodpecker vs Powerful Woodpecker · Crimson-crested Woodpecker vs Powerful Woodpecker · Powerful Woodpecker vs Red-necked Woodpecker · Ground Woodpecker vs Powerful Woodpecker · Guayaquil Woodpecker vs Powerful Woodpecker · Magellanic Woodpecker vs Powerful Woodpecker · Powerful Woodpecker vs Robust Woodpecker

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