White-wedged Piculet

About the White-wedged Piculet

The white-wedged piculet (Picumnus albosquamatus) is a species of bird in subfamily Picumninae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay. The white-wedged piculet has two subspecies, the nominate P. a. albosquamatus and P. a. guttifer (Sundevall, 1866). P. a. guttifer has at times been treated as a separate species but intergrades and hybridizes with the nominate. The white-wedged piculet hybridizes with the white-barred piculet (P. cirratus), the ocellated piculet (P. dorbignyanus), and the ochre-collared piculet (P. temminckii).

The white-wedged piculet is 10 to 11 cm (3.9 to 4.3 in) long and weighs 9 to 11 g (0.32 to 0.39 oz). Adult males of the nominate subspecies have a black cap with wide red tips on the forehead feathers and small white spots on the rest of the cap. Their face and hindneck are mostly white with a strong brown tinge and a white stripe behind the eye. Their upperparts are warm brown to grayish brown, sometimes with faint pale tips on the feathers. Their flight feathers are dark brown with narrow buffish white edges on the secondaries and tertials. Their tail is dark... Wikipedia →