Yellow-browed woodpecker

Piculus aurulentus

Photo by Ricardo Gentil (Flickr)

Common name:
yellow-browed woodpecker (en); pica-pau-dourado (pt); pic à bandeaux (fr); carpintero cejigualdo (es);weißbrauenspecht (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Piciformes
Family Picidae

Range:
This species is found in south-eastern Brazil, from Espírito Santo down to Rio Grande do Sul, and marginally into south-eastern Paraguay and extreme north-eastern Argentina.

Size:
These birds are 20-22 cm long and weigh about 75 g.

Habitat:
The yellow-browed woodpecker is mostly found in mountain rainforests, also using rainforests at lower altitudes, dry tropical forests, forest edges and dense second growths. They occur at altitudes of 750-2.000 m.

Diet:
They feed mainly on ants and their larvae, and possibly also the larvae of other insects found on tree bark. Occasionally, they also take fruits.

Breeding:
Yellow-browed woodpeckers breed in August-November. Both sexes excavate the nest hole, usually placed in a tree 2-7 m above the ground. There the female lays 2 white eggs with brown spots which are incubated by both parents for 21 days. The chicks are fed by both parents and fledge 26 days after hatching.

Conservation:
IUCN status - NT (Near-Threatened)
This species has a large breeding range, but is described as uncommon and suspected to be declining at a moderately rapid rate due to forests clearance for pastures and cultivation, and fires spreading out from cultivated areas.