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Doesn’t this bird look a lot like a red-bellied woodpecker?
This is a red-crowned woodpecker (Melanerpes rubricapillus), photographed by Charlie Hickey in Costa Rica.
There are nine Melanerpes woodpeckers that look very similar. Most of them live in the tropics; some are island species. I’ve noted below where you can see three species in the U.S.
- Jamaican Woodpecker, Melanerpes radiolatus
- Golden-cheeked Woodpecker, Melanerpes chrysogenys
- Yucatan Woodpecker, Melanerpes pygmaeus
- Red-crowned Woodpecker, Melanerpes rubricapillus
- Hoffmann’s Woodpecker, Melanerpes hoffmannii
- Gila Woodpecker, Melanerpes uropygialis (Arizona)
- Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Melanerpes aurifrons (Oklahoma & Texas)
- Red-bellied Woodpecker, Melanerpes carolinus (eastern North America)
- West Indian Woodpecker, Melanerpes superciliaris
Biologically speaking, this is more than a “family” resemblance It’s at the genus level.
(photo by Charlie Hickey)
Fooled me!