Melanerpes pucherani
Silhouette: Jason Dilworth · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% 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 Utría National Natural Park on a given day, based on 29 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 35th most-seen of the 154 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January and February
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Black-cheeked Woodpecker in Utría National Natural Park on a given day, against about 10% in September, the lowest month. Those are among Utría National Natural Park's driest months, with about 310 mm of rain a month against 710 mm in October. April, June and December have too few records to rate.
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.
10th of 25
Of the 25 parks where we can rate Black-cheeked Woodpecker sightings, Utría National Natural Park ranks 10th 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.
Same family: Picidae
The closest relatives of the Black-cheeked Woodpecker that you can see in Utría National Natural Park (family Picidae, Woodpeckers) are Lineated Woodpecker (about 10%), Crimson-crested Woodpecker (about 10%) and Cinnamon Woodpecker (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black-cheeked Woodpecker is recorded against all the birds logged in Utría National Natural Park (29 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.
