Melanerpes candidus
Silhouette: Jason Dilworth · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The white woodpecker (Melanerpes candidus) is a South American species of woodpecker (family Picidae) native to the wooded grasslands of Suriname, French Guiana, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. It is a bright white bird with black wings and a distinctive small bright yellow eye patch. The IUCN has rated it as a "least-concern species".
The species was first described as Melanerpes candidus in 1796 by the French naturalist Bernhard Christian Otto, the type locality being Cayenne. It is sometimes placed in its own genus Leuconerpes, but shows many similarities in morphology to Melanerpes. No subspecies are known (monotypic).
This woodpecker grows to a length of 24 to 29 cm (9.4 to 11.4 in) and weighs around 108 g (3.8 oz), with a range of 98 to 131 g (3.5 to 4.6 oz). It is one of the largest Melanerpes woodpeckers along with the Jamaican woodpecker and Lewis' woodpecker. The mantle, back, wings and tail of the adult are black, the flight feathers being brownish-black above and the underside of the wings being greyish-black. The crown, face, rump and underparts are white, sometimes with some buff shading. The male has some yellowing of... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Emas National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | El Impenetrable National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 4 | El Palmar National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 5 | Iberá National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 6 | Chapada dos Guimarães National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 7 | Iguazú National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 8 | Serra da Canastra National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 9 | Iguaçu National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 10 | Itatiaia National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Campo Grande | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Curitiba | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Campinas | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 4 | Santa Cruz de la Sierra | 🇧🇴 Bolivia | |
| 5 | Fortaleza | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 6 | São Paulo | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 7 | Asuncion | 🇵🇾 Paraguay | |
| 8 | Porto Alegre | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 9 | Goiânia | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 10 | Brasilia | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Copenhagen Zoo | 🇩🇰 Denmark |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a White Woodpecker sighting in Iberá National Park on a given day, based on 123 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 169th most-seen of the 284 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a White Woodpecker in Iberá National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January and October, the lowest months.
Between 1 and 4 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most White 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.
5th of 10
Of the 10 parks where we can rate White Woodpecker sightings, Iberá National Park ranks 5th at about 10%. The best odds are in Emas National Park (Brazil, about 30%), Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas (Brazil, about 20%) and El Impenetrable National Park (Argentina, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the White Woodpecker is recorded against all the birds logged in Iberá National Park (123 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.
