Red-rumped Woodpecker

Dryobates kirkii

The red-rumped woodpecker (Veniliornis kirkii) is a resident breeding bird from Costa Rica south and east to Ecuador, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago.

The habitat of this small woodpecker is forests, more open woodland, and cultivation. Two or three white eggs are laid in a nest hole in a dead tree.

The red-rumped woodpecker is 16.5 cm long and weighs 28g. Adults are mainly golden-olive above with a few buff spots on the wings, and a red rump. Their buff-white underparts are finely barred with dark brown, and the tail is blackish brown. The bill is black.

Adult males have a red crown and yellow nape. In adult females, the crown is dark brown and the nape orange-brown.

Red-rumped woodpeckers mainly eat insects. The call of this bird is a repeated quee-quee-quee. Both sexes drum rapidly.