Melanerpes pucherani
Silhouette: Jason Dilworth · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The black-cheeked woodpecker (Melanerpes pucherani) is a species of bird in subfamily Picinae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is found from Mexico south to Ecuador. The black-cheeked woodpecker and several others were for a time placed in genus Tripsurus. It and the golden-naped woodpecker (M. chrysauchen) form a superspecies. The black-cheeked woodpecker is monotypic but assigning it two subspecies has sometimes been proposed.
The black-cheeked woodpecker's specific epithet commemorates the French zoologist Jacques Pucheran. The black-cheeked woodpecker is 17 to 19 cm (6.7 to 7.5 in) long and weighs 42 to 68 g (1.5 to 2.4 oz). The sexes' plumage is alike except for their head pattern. Adult males have a golden yellow forehead and a red crown and nape. Adult females have a white to buffy white forehead, a black central crown, and a red hindcrown and nape. Both sexes have black around the eye that extends down the side of the neck and a white line behind the eye. Their upper back has black and white bars and their lower back and uppertail coverts are white with a pale buff tinge and sometimes some blackish bars. Their flight feathers... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guayaquil | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 2 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 3 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Black-cheeked Woodpecker sighting in Bastimentos Island National Marine Park on a given day, based on 2,033 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 12th most-seen of the 375 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March
In that month about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Black-cheeked Woodpecker in Bastimentos Island National Marine Park on a given day, against about 40% in June, August–September and December, the lowest months. That is one of Bastimentos Island National Marine Park's driest months, with about 160 mm of rain against 540 mm in July.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black-cheeked 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.
4th of 25
Of the 25 parks where we can rate Black-cheeked Woodpecker sightings, Bastimentos Island National Marine Park ranks 4th at about 50%. The best odds are in Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge (Costa Rica, about 60%), Arenal Volcano National Park (Costa Rica, about 50%) and Cahuita National Park (Costa Rica, about 50%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Picidae
The closest relatives of the Black-cheeked Woodpecker that you can see in Bastimentos Island National Marine Park (family Picidae, Woodpeckers) are Lineated Woodpecker (about 20%) and Pale-billed Woodpecker (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black-cheeked Woodpecker is recorded against all the birds logged in Bastimentos Island National Marine Park (2,033 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.
