Red-necked Woodpecker

Red-necked Woodpecker

Campephilus rubricollis

Silhouette: Arthur A. Allen (modified) · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability ~30% · Possible
at Amboró National Park

In 3 days ~70% in a week ~90%

153 Verified sightings at Amboró National Park From 2019 to 2026
1,165 In all 8 parks
December Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Red-necked Woodpecker

The red-necked woodpecker (Campephilus rubricollis) is a species of bird in subfamily Picinae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is found in every mainland South American country except Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

The red-necked woodpecker was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1780 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux from a specimen collected in Cayenne, French Guiana. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-colored plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name, but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Picus rubricollis in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées. The red-necked woodpecker was for a time placed in genus Scapaneus that was later merged into genus Phloeoceastes. The latter was itself merged into the current genus Campephilus that was introduced by the English zoologist George Robert Gray in 1840. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Call0:26

Brazil · 2026

© JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA · XC1183690 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Song0:29

Brazil · 2021

© GABRIEL LEITE · XC680703 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Drumming1:11

Guyana · 2020

© Barry Edmonston · XC527909 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Amboró National Park 🇧🇴 Bolivia
~30%
2 Brownsberg Nature Park 🇸🇷 Suriname
~30%
3 Tambopata National Reserve 🇵🇪 Peru
~20%
4 Manu National Park 🇵🇪 Peru
~10%
5 Sierra de la Macarena National Park 🇨🇴 Colombia
<5%
6 Yasuní National Park 🇪🇨 Ecuador
<5%
7 Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve 🇪🇨 Ecuador
<5%
8 Amacayacu National Natural Park 🇨🇴 Colombia
<5%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Red-necked Woodpecker in Amboró National Park?

Possible

About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Red-necked Woodpecker sighting in Amboró National Park on a given day, based on 153 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 44th most-seen of the 273 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Red-necked Woodpecker in Amboró National Park?

April, October and December–February

In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Red-necked Woodpecker in Amboró National Park on a given day, against about 10% in August, the lowest month. June has too few records to rate.

What time of day is best to see a Red-necked Woodpecker?

Between 10 am and 1 pm

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Red-necked Woodpecker sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.

Is Amboró National Park the best place to see a Red-necked Woodpecker?

Yes

Of the 8 parks where we can rate Red-necked Woodpecker sightings, Amboró National Park has the highest daily chance: about 30%. Next come Brownsberg Nature Park (Suriname, about 30%) and Tambopata National Reserve (Peru, about 20%).

Where does the Red-necked Woodpecker sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Red-necked Woodpecker is recorded against all the birds logged in Amboró National Park (153 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.

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