Green-barred Woodpecker

Green-barred Woodpecker

Colaptes melanochloros

Silhouette: FJDegrange · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability <5% · Rare
at Iguazú National Park

In 3 days ~10%

91 Verified sightings at Iguazú National Park From 2019 to 2026
1,773 In all 12 parks
October Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Green-barred Woodpecker

The green-barred woodpecker or green-barred flicker (Colaptes melanochloros) is a species of bird in subfamily Picinae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. The green-barred woodpecker was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with woodpeckers in the genus Picus and coined the binomial name Picus melanochloros. The specific epithet melanochloros combines the Ancient Greek melas meaning "black" with khlōros meaning "green" or "yellow". Gmelin based his description on "Le grand pic rayé de Cayenne" that had been described and illustrated in 1760 by the French polymath Comte de Buffon. Buffon mistakenly believed that his specimen had been collected in Cayenne, French Guiana but the species does not occur there. Instead, the type locality has been designated as Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

The green-barred woodpecker was moved to the genus Chrysoptilus, but this genus has been merged into Colaptes based on the results of a 2011 molecular phylogenetic study. The American Ornithological... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Call0:48

Brazil · 2026

© JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA · XC1162242 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Song0:26

Argentina · 2023

© Bernard BOUSQUET · XC824789 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Recording0:11

Argentina · 2023

© Sabrina Andrea Rendon Anaya · XC820911 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Iberá National Park 🇦🇷 Argentina
~50%
2 El Palmar National Park 🇦🇷 Argentina
~50%
3 El Impenetrable National Park 🇦🇷 Argentina
~30%
4 Serra da Canastra National Park 🇧🇷 Brazil
~10%
5 Itatiaia National Park 🇧🇷 Brazil
~10%
6 Chapada dos Guimarães National Park 🇧🇷 Brazil
~10%
7 Serra dos Órgãos National Park 🇧🇷 Brazil
<5%
8 Chapada Diamantina National Park 🇧🇷 Brazil
<5%
9 Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas 🇧🇷 Brazil
<5%
10 Iguazú National Park 🇦🇷 Argentina
<5%
11 Iguaçu National Park 🇧🇷 Brazil
<5%
12 Tijuca National Park 🇧🇷 Brazil
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Mendoza 🇦🇷 Argentina
~60%
2 Cordoba 🇦🇷 Argentina
~50%
3 Buenos Aires 🇦🇷 Argentina
~50%
4 Rosario 🇦🇷 Argentina
~40%
5 Fortaleza 🇧🇷 Brazil
~30%
6 Recife 🇧🇷 Brazil
~30%
7 Campo Grande 🇧🇷 Brazil
~20%
8 Porto Alegre 🇧🇷 Brazil
~20%
9 Brasilia 🇧🇷 Brazil
~20%
10 Goiânia 🇧🇷 Brazil
~20%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Green-barred Woodpecker in Iguazú National Park?

Rare

Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Green-barred Woodpecker sighting in Iguazú National Park on a given day, based on 91 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 225th most-seen of the 343 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Green-barred Woodpecker in Iguazú National Park?

Any time of year

In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Green-barred Woodpecker in Iguazú National Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.

What time of day is best to see a Green-barred Woodpecker?

Between 3 and 6 pm

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Green-barred 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 Iguazú National Park the best place to see a Green-barred Woodpecker?

10th of 12

Of the 12 parks where we can rate Green-barred Woodpecker sightings, Iguazú National Park ranks 10th at under 5%. The best odds are in Iberá National Park (Argentina, about 50%), El Palmar National Park (Argentina, about 50%) and El Impenetrable National Park (Argentina, about 30%).

Where does the Green-barred Woodpecker sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Green-barred Woodpecker is recorded against all the birds logged in Iguazú National Park (91 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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