Black-cheeked Woodpecker

Melanerpes pucherani

The black-cheeked woodpecker (Melanerpes pucherani) is a resident breeding bird from southeastern Mexico south to western Ecuador.

This woodpecker occurs in the higher levels of wet forests, semi-open woodland and old second growth. It nests in an unlined hole 6–30 m (20–98 ft) high in a dead tree. The clutch is two to four glossy white eggs, incubated by both sexes.

The binomial commemorates the French zoologist Jacques Pucheran.The black-cheeked woodpecker feeds on insects, but will take substantial quantities of fruit and nectar.This common and conspicuous species gives a rattling krrrrrl call and both sexes drum on territory.