Melanerpes pucherani
Silhouette: Jason Dilworth · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% 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 Tortuguero National Park on a given day, based on 1,052 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 41st most-seen of the 348 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January and June
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Black-cheeked Woodpecker in Tortuguero National Park on a given day, against about 20% in September and November, the lowest months.
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.
9th of 25
Of the 25 parks where we can rate Black-cheeked Woodpecker sightings, Tortuguero National Park ranks 9th at about 30%. The best odds are in Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge (Costa Rica, about 60%), Arenal Volcano National Park (Costa Rica, about 50%) and Cahuita National Park (Costa Rica, about 50%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black-cheeked Woodpecker is recorded against all the birds logged in Tortuguero National Park (1,052 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.
