Yellow-fronted Woodpecker
A species of Melanerpine Woodpeckers Scientific name : Melanerpes flavifrons Genus : Melanerpine Woodpeckers
Yellow-fronted Woodpecker, A species of Melanerpine Woodpeckers
Botanical name: Melanerpes flavifrons
Genus: Melanerpine Woodpeckers
Content
Description General Info
Photo By Francesco Veronesi , used under CC-BY-SA-2.0 /Cropped and compressed from original
Description
This colourful woodpecker is about 18 cm (7 in) long. The sexes are similar apart from the male having a red crown and nape while this region in the female is bluish black. Both have a yellow fore-crown, yellow cheeks, chin and throat, and a broad black band running from the base of the beak, through the eye to the nape. The mantle and upper wings are mainly black, and the back and rump are white. The tail is black with some white barring on the outer feathers. The breast is grey or olive, the belly red and the flanks barred in black and white or black and buff. The iris is blue-black and the distinct orbital ring is yellowish or orange. The beak is black and the legs and feet olive-brown. The juvenile is similar to the adult but less glossy and rather browner, with less red on the belly and crown.
Size
17 cm
Feeding Habits
Yellow-fronted Woodpecker's diet consists of fruits, berries, seeds, insects, and their larvae. Captive individuals are offered sugar water and mealworms. Nestlings are primarily fed fruits and various insects. Yellow-fronted Woodpecker exhibits food storage behavior, caching seeds, fruits, and insects. Forages in groups, often probing in crevices, and uses anvils to break larger food items.
Habitat
Yellow-fronted Woodpecker primarily inhabit humid forest environments and are adapted to regions that include a mix of secondary vegetation. Their habitat extends to palm groves, orchards, and even modified landscapes such as cane fields and parklands. Characteristically, they can be found in areas where sparse trees persist amidst cleared zones, and in partially burnt forests. These birds thrive from sea level up to elevations of approximately 1800 meters, favoring biodiverse regions in eastern South America.
Dite type
Insectivorous
General Info
Distribution Area
The yellow-fronted woodpecker is native to eastern South America. Its range includes eastern and southeastern Brazil, eastern Paraguay and northeastern Argentina, at altitudes from sea level to about 1,800 m (6,000 ft). It is a resident, non-migratory species and is found in sparsely forested areas, gallery forests, secondary forests, palm groves, orchards, gardens and parkland, especially places where isolated trees are left standing in an otherwise cleared area.
Species Status
M. flavifrons has a very wide range and is described as a fairly common species. Although its population trend is not known, its total population is large and any decrease in population size is slow, so the International Union for Conservation of Nature has classified its conservation status as "least concern".
Photo By Francesco Veronesi , used under CC-BY-SA-2.0 /Cropped and compressed from original
Scientific Classification
Phylum
Chordates Class
Birds Family
Woodpeckers Genus
Melanerpine Woodpeckers Species
Yellow-fronted Woodpecker