Bird
Bird
Golden-olive Woodpecker
Piculus rubiginosus
The Golden-olive Woodpecker is a medium-sized, softly coloured woodpecker of Trinidad's forests, its olive-green back with a golden sheen and grey head with a small red patch making it a subtly attractive, if easily overlooked, forest bird.
The Golden-olive Woodpecker is a medium-sized, softly coloured woodpecker of Trinidad's forests, its olive-green back with a golden sheen and grey head with a small red patch making it a subtly attractive, if easily overlooked, forest bird.
Identification
A medium-sized woodpecker around 20 to 23 cm long, olive-green above with a golden or yellowish sheen, a grey face and crown, and a small red patch on the nape, more extensive on males which also show a red malar stripe. The underparts are pale, finely barred with olive. The bill is straight, chisel-shaped, and dark, typical of true woodpeckers.
Ecology
The Golden-olive Woodpecker forages methodically on tree trunks and branches for ants, beetle larvae, and other wood-boring and bark-dwelling invertebrates, gleaning as well as excavating shallow holes rather than the deep excavation typical of larger woodpeckers. It is generally found singly or in pairs in forest and forest edge, occasionally joining mixed-species foraging flocks moving through the mid-storey and canopy.
Status in T&T
Found in forest and forest edge across Trinidad, tolerating moderately disturbed and secondary woodland. It is not threatened. It is protected under the Conservation of Wildlife Act and is not a game species.
Threats
- Forest clearance reducing foraging habitat
