YUCATAN WOODPECKERS in Belize

The Yucatán woodpecker is a species of bird in the family Picidae. It is sometimes referred to as the Red-Vented Woodpecker. The Yucatán woodpecker can be found in Belize, Honduras, and Mexico, and ranges over the entire Yucatán Peninsula.  This woodpecker, is a smaller version of the Golden-fronted Woodpecker. The Yucatan Woodpecker can be found in woodland, beach scrub, semi-open wooded habitats; usually less numerous than Golden-Fronted.  Yucatan Woodpecker are very similar in plumage (as compared to the Golden-Fronted Woodpecker), but Yucatan Woodpecker has a much shorter bill, ‘egg-yolk’ yellow feathering around the bill base.  Their voice is quite different from Golden-Fronted Woodpecker.

Description
This woodpecker measures about 6.7 inches long. Adults are mainly light gray on the face and underparts; they have black and white barred patterns on their back, wings and tail. Adult males have a red cap going from the eye to the nape; females lack a red cap. There is yellow and/or red around the base of the bill. There may be a yellowish tinge to the belly and a red wash to the vent area.
It might be confused with the golden-fronted woodpecker which shares part of its range, but that species is larger, has a bigger beak, and the female has more red on the nape of the neck. Another similar species is the red-crowned woodpecker but the range of the two species do not overlap.

Distribution
The Yucatán woodpecker is endemic to Central America. Its range includes the Yucatan Peninsula and adjoining offshore islands, Cozumel Island, Belize, northeastern Guatemala and Guanaja Island off the coast of Honduras. It is mostly found in clearings and near the edges of dry woodland and in coastal scrub, but also sometimes inhabits damper woodland and degraded habitats.

This species covers a very large range, and the population size is large enough, that it does not come under the thresholds for being vulnerable under the range size criterion. Despite the fact that the population appears to be decreasing, the decline is not believed to be sufficiently rapid enough to place them on the red list.  For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

Habitat
Woodlands, groves, orchards, towns. Most common in deciduous forest, especially along rivers and in swamps. Also in mixed coniferous and deciduous forest, less often in pure stands of pine. May be found in rather open areas, such as forest edges and clearings, groves of trees in farm country, shade trees in suburbs.

Diet
Like most woodpeckers, they eat many insects. Their diet may be more than 50% plant material in some seasons, including acorns, other nuts, seeds, wild & cultivated fruits. Occasional items in diet include tree frogs, eggs of small birds, oozing sap, and even small fish.

Feeding Behavior
Forages by searching for insects on tree trunks and major limbs. Climbs and perches among branches to pick berries and nuts, and sometimes catches flying insects in the air. Nuts and seeds taken in fall may be stored in bark crevices, eaten during winter.

Eggs
Yucatan Woodpeckers have 4-5 (sometimes 3-8), white eggs.  Incubation is by both sexes (with male incubating at night and part of day), for 12-14 days. They have about 2 to 3 broods a year.

Nesting
They use many antagonistic displays in defending their territory, including spreading their wings, slow floating flight, and raising head feathers. Nest sites are typically in the cavities of dead wood (tree, pole, fence post, or stump), usually less than 50' above ground but can be as high as 120'. Male may begin excavating several holes, with female selecting which one is completed and used. Also may use natural cavity, abandoned hole of other woodpecker, or nest box.

Young
Young hacklings are fed by both parents, and leave the nest about 22-27 days after hatching. Parents may continue to feed young for 6 weeks or more after they leave nest.

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WOODPECKERS IN GENERAL

Key Facts & Information

• Woodpeckers get its name from how they forage for food: they tap on tree trunks with their strong beaks and chisel holes in wood.
  
• There are around 180 species of woodpeckers.
• Woodpeckers are part of the family Picidae and the subfamily Picinae.
• Woodpeckers are mostly found in woodlands and forests where trees are abundant.
• They are dispersed in all continents except Australia and New Guinea.
• Woodpeckers are abundant in Southeast Asia and South America.

Physical Characteristics

• The woodpecker has a tough, pointed beak which it uses to chip on bark, drum on trees, and find insects.
• The tip of their bill is chisel-shaped and sharp from all the pecking on wood.
• The tongue of a woodpecker can span up to four inches long.
• On its tongue is a glue-like substance which helps in extracting insects.
• Woodpeckers have zygodactyl feet – two toes pointing forward and two pointing backward – which help them hold onto tree trunks.
• They have sharp claws on their toes.
• Many species have bristel-like tail feathers which support their weight when they press against the sides of trees.
• They also have stiffened feathers over their nostrils that keep them from inhaling particles from wood.

Ecology and Behavior

• Woodpeckers help in keeping trees healthy by removing insect pests.
• The diet of woodpeckers mainly consists of insects.
• Some species eat fruit, berries, acorns, tree sap, and nuts.
• Woodpeckers tap on tree trunks to catch their prey living in cracks in the bark and to dig up nest cavities.
• Some woodpecker species drum on trees for two reasons: to communicate to other woodpeckers, and to engage in courtship.
• Woodpeckers tap on trunks around 8,000 to 12,000 times per day.
• Most species are not social and would rather be in pairs or remain solitary.

Mating & Reproduction

• The mating season and gestation period varies by species.
• The male and female parents work together to dig up a cavity in a tree where eggs can be incubated for approximately two weeks.
• The eggs are incubated for 11 to 14 days before hatching.
• A newly hatched woodpecker is blind and featherless.
• To protect their young, one parent must stay in the nest while another goes on to hunt food and bring it to the nest.
• The young woodpeckers should be ready to leave the nest after 25 to 30 days.

Woodpecker Species

• The smallest type of woodpeckers are the piculets, which measure 3 to 4 inches long and can be found in Africa, South America, and Asia.
• Woodpeckers belonging to the Melanerpes species eat fruits and berries.
• The acorn woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus), which is found in the woodlands of western North America, depends on acorns for food during the winter.
• The red-headed woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) is dispersed in temperate North America.
• The hairy woodpecker (Dendrocopos villosus) is found in temperate North America.
• The downy woodpecker (Dendrocopos pubescens) is found in the woodlands of temperate North America.
• The great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) inhabits the forests of western Eurasia located south of North Africa.
• The Dryocopus species are known to be large in size and fast at flying.
• Well-known species of Dryocopus include the black woodpecker (Dryocopus martius), which is around 18 inches long, and the pileated woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus), which is 15.5 to 18.25 inches long.
• There are two species of three-toed woodpeckers namely the black-backed three-toe and the northern three-toed woodpecker.
• The crimson-backed woodpecker (Chrysocolaptes lucidus) is commonly found in woodlands in India and the Philippines.
• The green woodpecker (Picus viridis) is found in temperate Eurasia.
• The red-cockaded woodpecker inhabits pine forests in southeastern United States.
• The ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) is a critically endangered woodpecker originally found in Cuba and the southern United States and was rediscovered in eastern Arkansas in 2006.

Woodpecker Trivia

• Woodpeckers are both useful and disturbing to humans. They are useful in removing insect pests from trees. They are detrimental when they feed on fruit crops or make holes in wooden structures.
  
• Woodpeckers are usually silent except during spring season where they make loud calls and drum loudly as a sign of males locking in their territories.
• About 20 species face the threat of extinction because of habitat destruction.
• The ivory-billed woodpecker and the imperial woodpecker of Mexico are considered extinct.