Rufous-winged woodpecker

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Rufous-winged woodpecker (Piculus simplex) is a small woodpecker in the Picidae family. It is about 18 cm long and weighs around 51–55 g.

Male and female look different on the head. Males have red from the forehead to the hindneck and red on the cheeks; the rest of the face is brownish green. Females have a mostly brownish olive head with red only on the nape and hindneck. Adults have bronze-green upperparts; wings are cinnamon‑rufous; the tail is blackish with some cinnamon‑rufous on the outer feathers. Throat and upper breast are olive-green with pale buff-yellow spots; the lower parts are pale yellow-buff with dark olive bars. Juveniles are duller and greyer with buffy green spots on the throat and breast.

This bird lives from eastern Honduras through Nicaragua and Costa Rica to western Panama. It prefers humid forests but can be found near large isolated trees in open areas. It ranges up to about 750 m in the Caribbean lowlands and up to about 900 m on the Pacific side. It stays in its range year‑round.

Rufous-winged woodpeckers usually forage alone, sometimes in pairs or in mixed-species flocks. They search by pecking wood and eat ants and beetles (adults and larvae).

Breeding happens from February to May. They nest in holes in dead or rotten wood, about 2.5–5 m above the ground. Clutch size is two to four eggs. Details about incubation, fledging, and parental care are not well known.

Their song is a strong, jay-like “chea, chea, chea, chea” or nasal “heew” notes, and they drum in long bursts.

Conservation status is Least Concern. The species has a large range and an estimated population of at least 50,000 mature individuals, though numbers are believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats are known, and it is described as uncommon to fairly common. It occurs in at least two protected areas in Costa Rica.

Taxonomy note: It was originally described in a different genus and has sometimes been linked with similar species. It is usually treated as a single species in Piculus, though some Honduran birds have been proposed as a subspecies.