Medium-sized Yungas woodpecker measuring approximately 23 cm in length, with a uniform golden-olive back and heavily barred underparts. The face shows a broad white eye stripe that highlights the dark iris. The head combines black and red tones: the forehead and front of the crown are blackish, while the nape is red. In males, the malar stripe is also red, whereas in females it is dark and streaked. The throat is whitish with fine dark streaks, and the belly displays bold black barring on a yellowish-green background. The back is uniformly golden-olive. The tail is dark brown, and the bill is dark gray to blackish and relatively long. The legs are grayish. Juveniles are duller and less contrasting than adults.
Geographic distribution: With 19 subspecies, it ranges from Mexico to northwestern Argentina, occurring mainly in mountainous and forested regions of Central America and the Andes. In Argentina, the subspecies tucumanus inhabits the Yungas of Jujuy, Salta, Tucumán, and Catamarca, where it occupies a broad elevational range from the foothills to upper montane forests and the ecotone with Polylepis woodlands, between approximately 100 and 2,600 m above sea level.
Habitat: It inhabits a variety of Yungas environments, including foothill rainforest, montane rainforest, montane forest, and patches of alder woodland associated with Polylepis forests. It occurs both within the forest interior and along edges, clearings, and areas with scattered trees. It mainly uses the middle and upper vegetation strata, where it moves among trunks, large branches, and areas rich in epiphytes.
Diet: It feeds primarily on ants, termites, wood-boring beetles, and other arthropods, occasionally supplementing its diet with fruits and berries. It searches for food on trunks, branches, lianas, bromeliads, and accumulations of mosses and epiphytes. It usually forages alone or in pairs, although it may occasionally join mixed-species flocks.
Behavior: It is usually observed alone or in pairs. It moves slowly through trees, carefully inspecting bark, branches, and epiphytes while searching for food. It often remains motionless for long periods before moving to another part of the forest, where its golden-olive coloration blends easily with trunks covered in mosses and epiphytes. Its vocalizations include loud, piercing calls as well as long, dry, rapid trills. It also performs brief drumming displays on trunks and branches.
Nesting: It excavates cavities in trunks or branches of living or dead trees, where it places its nest. Both members of the pair participate in excavation and incubation. Recorded clutches consist of two to four white eggs.
Conservation status: Classified as Least Concern (LC) at the international level. In Argentina, it also has no national threat category. It is a relatively common species within suitable Yungas habitats and occurs in several protected areas. Its wide distribution and ability to use different forest types suggest that it currently faces no significant threats on a global scale, although it depends on the conservation of the forest environments it inhabits.
Author of this compilation: María Belén Dri and Diego Carús – 06/22/2026