Jamaican Woodpecker

About the Jamaican Woodpecker

The Jamaican woodpecker (Melanerpes radiolatus) is a species of bird in subfamily Picinae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is endemic to Jamaica. The Jamaican woodpecker has sometimes been placed in genus Centurus. It is monotypic.

The Jamaican woodpecker is about 24 to 26 cm (9.4 to 10 in) long and weighs 92 to 131 g (3.2 to 4.6 oz). The sexes' plumage is alike except for their head pattern. Adult males have a whitish to buff forehead and are red from their forecrown to hindneck. Adult females have the same white to buffy white forehead but a gray crown with red only on the hindcrown and hindneck. Their upperparts are black with thin white bars that sometimes have a greenish tinge. The bars are widest on the rump and uppertail coverts. Their flight feathers are black with narrow white bars throughout. Their tail is black with some white bars on the central pair of feathers and white spots on the outermost pair. Their lores are yellowish and their cheeks, chin, and throat are white. Their underparts are mostly olive-gray to olive-buff with yellowish to reddish on the central belly; their lower flanks and undertail coverts are black... Wikipedia →