Yellow-browed woodpecker
{{short description|Species of bird}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2023}}
{{speciesbox
| image = Piculus aurulentus.jpg
| image_caption = Male in Espírito Santo State, Brazil
| status = NT
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| genus = Piculus
| species = aurulentus
| authority = (Temminck, 1821)
| synonyms =
| range_map = Piculus aurulentus map.svg
}}
The yellow-browed woodpecker (Piculus aurulentus), also known as the white-browed woodpecker, is a Near Threatened species of bird in the woodpecker family Picidae.{{cite web |url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/woodpeckers/ |title=Woodpeckers |website=IOC World Bird List |version =v 12.2 |editor-last1=Gill |editor-first1= F. |editor-last2=Donsker|editor-first2=D.|editor-last3=Rasmussen |editor-first3=P. |date=August 2022 |access-date=January 9, 2023 }} It is found in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 24 July 2022. Species Lists of Birds for South American Countries and Territories. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCCountryLists.htm retrieved July 24, 2022
Taxonomy and systematics
Some authors treat the yellow-browed woodpecker and the golden-green woodpecker (P. chrysochloros) as a superspecies.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 24 July 2022. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved July 24, 2022 The species is monotypic.
file:Piculus aurulentus Yellow-browed Woodpecker.jpg, São Paulo State, Brazil]]
Description
The yellow-browed woodpecker is {{convert|21|to|22|cm|in|sigfig=2|abbr=on}} long and weighs {{convert|22|to|68|g|oz|sigfig=2|abbr=on}}. Males and females have the same plumage except on their heads. Males are red from forehead to nape, have a narrow yellowish white supercilium, are dark olive green around the eye and onto the side of the neck, and successively below that a pale yellow stripe and a red malar band. Their chin and throat are pale golden. The female has an olive forehead and crown and much less red at the malar. Adults have olive green upperparts. Their flight feathers are dark brown with greenish edges and dark cinnamon-rufous on the inner webs. Their tail is blackish. Their underparts are whitish with wide dark olive bars. Their medium-length beak is blackish gray with a paler base on the mandible, their iris chestnut-brown, and the legs greenish gray. Juveniles are generally duller than adults and have less well defined barring on their underparts.Winkler, H., D. A. Christie, and A. Bonan (2020). White-browed Woodpecker (Piculus aurulentus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.whbwoo7.01 retrieved January 27, 2023
Distribution and habitat
The yellow-browed woodpecker is found from Brazil's São Paulo state south through eastern Paraguay and northern Uruguay into northeastern Argentina. It inhabits the interior and edges of humid mature montane forest, dense secondary forest and woodland, and humid lowland forest. In elevation it ranges between {{convert|750|and|2000|m|ft|-2|abbr=on}} in Brazil and generally lower in the other countries.
Behavior
=Movement=
=Feeding=
=Breeding=
The yellow-browed woodpecker's breeding season is not well defined but appears to include August to November. It tends to excavate its nest cavity high in a tree.The clutch size, incubation period, time to fledging, and details of parental care are not known.
{{birdsong|url=https://xeno-canto.org/species/Piculus-aurulentus |species=yellow-browed woodpecker}}
=Vocal and non-vocal sounds=
The yellow-browed woodpecker's song is a "slow or hurried series of 7-15 high 'wuh' notes."{{cite book | last =Ridgely | first =Robert S. | last2 =Greenfield | first2 =Paul J. | title =The Birds of Ecuador: Field Guide | publisher =Cornell University Press | volume = II| date =2001 | location =Ithaca | pages =192 | isbn =978-0-8014-8721-7 }} It drums with "rapid, regular rolls."
Status
The IUCN has assessed the yellow-browed woodpecker as Near Threatened. It has a somewhat restricted range and an unknown population size that is believed to be decreasing. Much of its original habitat has been cleared for cultivation and pasture and the conversion continues. "Rather uncommon; apparently shy in nature, and not often seen."