The Lineated Woodpecker (Dryocopus lineatus) is a very large woodpecker which is a resident breeding bird from Mexico south to northern Argentina and on Trinidad.

Habitat

The habitat of this species is forest borders and other open woodland. Three white eggs are laid in a nest hole is in a dead tree and incubated by both sexes. The young are fed by regurgitation.

Description

The Lineated Woodpecker is 34 cm long and weighs 200 g. It resembles the closely-related Pileated Woodpecker of North America, but within its range the confusion species is the Crimson-crested Woodpecker.

Adults are mainly black above, with a red crest and white lines down the sides of the throat and shoulders. The underparts are white, heavily barred with black. They show white on the wings in flight.

Adult males have a red line from the bill to the throat and red on the front of the crown. In adult females, these plumage features are black.

Crimson-crested Woodpecker is the only bird of similar plumage and size. In that species, the white face line is broader, and the white shoulder lines meet on the back.

Lineated Woodpeckers chip out holes, often quite large, while searching out insects in trees. They mainly eat insects, especially ants and beetle larvae, with some seeds, such as Heliconia, and fruits, berries and nuts.

The call of this widespread but wary bird is a loud, ringing wic-wic-wic. Both sexes drum.