Melanerpes superciliaris
Silhouette: Jason Dilworth · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
The West Indian woodpecker (Melanerpes superciliaris) is a species of bird in subfamily Picinae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is found in the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands and Cuba. The West Indian woodpecker was originally described as Picus superciliaris and has also been assigned to genus Centurus. Major taxonomic systems assign these five subspecies to the West Indian woodpecker:
The treatment was based on only a few specimens, and those populations are possibly extinct. The population on Grand Bahama Island was also sometimes treated as subspecies M. s. bahamensis; it is apparently extinct. None of these subspecies have gained wide acceptance.
The West Indian woodpecker is about 27 to 32 cm (11 to 13 in) long and weighs 48 to 126 g (1.7 to 4.4 oz). Individuals on large islands are larger than those on small islands, and males are generally heavier and... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ciénaga de Zapata | 🇨🇺 Cuba |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Havana | 🇨🇺 Cuba |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a West Indian Woodpecker sighting in Havana on a given day, based on 773 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 12th most-seen of the 183 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September and October
In those months about 60% of wildlife watchers report a West Indian Woodpecker in Havana on a given day, against about 20% in February, the lowest month. Those are among Havana's wettest months, with about 95 mm of rain a month against 25 mm in March.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most West Indian 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.
Only Havana, in our data
Havana is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate West Indian Woodpecker sightings: about 40% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Picidae
The closest relatives of the West Indian Woodpecker that you can see in Havana (family Picidae, Woodpeckers) are Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (about 10%) and Cuban Green Woodpecker (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the West Indian Woodpecker is recorded against all the birds logged in Havana (773 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.
