The World of Woodpeckers

The Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Melanerpes aurifrons, is a North American woodpecker. Its preferred habitat is mesquite and riparian woodlands in Texas and Oklahoma. Cooke listed this species as an abundant resident of the lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas, in 1884.

The Black-rumped Flameback or Lesser Golden-backed Woodpecker (Dinopium benghalense) is a woodpecker found widely distributed in South Asia. It is one of the few woodpeckers that are seen in urban areas, it has a characteristic rattling-whinnying call and an undulating flight. It is the only golden-backed woodpecker with a black throat.

About the size of the Northern Cardinal, the Red-cockaded Woodpecker (Picoides borealis) is approximately 8.5 in. (20-23 cm) long, with a wingspan of about 14 in. (36 cm.) and a weight of about 1.5 ounces. Its back is barred with black and white horizontal stripes.

Category: Image - :Picoides borealisEHP10CC1.jpg|left|200px|thumb|Detail of head The Red-cockaded Woodpecker's most distinguishing feature is a black cap and nape that encircle large white cheek patches. Rarely visible, except perhaps during the breeding season and periods of territorial defense, the male has a small red streak on each side of its black cap called a cockade, hence its name. The Red-cockaded Woodpecker feeds primarily on ants, beetles, cockroaches, caterpillars, wood-boring insects, and spiders, and occasionally fruit and berries.

The Striped Woodpecker (Veniliornis lignarius) is a woodpecker found in southwestern South America. It occurs northwest- and southwestwards of the range of its sister taxon, the Checkered Woodpecker, in the Cordillera Patagonica and its foothills, and in another population in the Andes of Bolivia and the adjacent foothills. As the latter is isolated and differs in numerous respects, it is being considered to separate it as V. (lignarius) puncticeps.

This species was long placed in the genus Picoides where it was, together with its sister species, considered something of an oddball. In 2006, Moore et al. published research on mtDNA COI and Cyt b sequences which suggests that the Striped and Checkered Woodpeckers are actually most closely related to the White-spotted Woodpecker, Veniliornis spilogaster, a peculiar Picoides-like species which also was hitherto unique in its genus.