Melanerpes pucherani
Silhouette: Jason Dilworth · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% 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 |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Black-cheeked Woodpecker sighting in Guayaquil on a given day, based on 255 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 27th most-seen of the 167 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November
In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Black-cheeked Woodpecker in Guayaquil on a given day, against about 20% in January–February and July, the lowest months. That is one of Guayaquil's driest months, with about 10 mm of rain against 220 mm in February.
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.
Yes
Of the 3 cities where we can rate Black-cheeked Woodpecker sightings, Guayaquil has the highest daily chance: about 30%. Next come San José (Costa Rica, under 5%) and Panama City (Panama, under 5%).
Same family: Picidae
The closest relatives of the Black-cheeked Woodpecker that you can see in Guayaquil (family Picidae, Woodpeckers) are Golden-olive Woodpecker (about 20%) and Scarlet-backed Woodpecker (about 20%), 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 Guayaquil (255 verified sightings), 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.
