Campephilus guatemalensis
Silhouette: Arthur A. Allen (modified) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The pale-billed woodpecker (Campephilus guatemalensis) is a species of woodpecker of the genus Campephilus. It is found from Mexico to Panama. The pale-billed woodpecker is 35.5 to 38 cm (14 to 15 in) long. Both sexes of the nominate subspecies have black upperparts from nape to rump. They have vertical white or buffy white stripes on the sides of their neck that continue onto their back and nearly or fully form a "V". Their tail is dull brown with dull olive-brown on the underside of the outer feathers. Their wings are black except for the outer primaries, whose upper surface has dull brown outer webs above and are greenish olive-yellow below. Their throat and upper breast are black and the rest of their underparts light yellowish buff with narrow black bars. Their bill is a long ivory yellow chisel, their iris light cream-buff, and their legs... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Pale-billed Woodpecker sighting in Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve on a given day, based on 693 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 134th most-seen of the 412 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April, June, August and October–December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Pale-billed Woodpecker in Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve on a given day, against under 5% in January–March, May, July and September, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Pale-billed 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.
25th of 34
Of the 34 parks where we can rate Pale-billed Woodpecker sightings, Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve ranks 25th at about 10%. The best odds are in Tikal National Park (Guatemala, about 50%), Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary (Belize, about 40%) and Calakmul Biosphere Reserve (Mexico, about 40%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Picidae
The closest relatives of the Pale-billed Woodpecker that you can see in Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve (family Picidae, Woodpeckers) are Hoffmann's Woodpecker (about 30%), Golden-olive Woodpecker (about 20%) and Smoky-brown Woodpecker (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Pale-billed Woodpecker is recorded against all the birds logged in Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve (693 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.
