The Bar-bellied woodpecker (Veniliornis nigriceps) is a small size 17-19cm in length and is a species of bird in the family Picidae. The range of Bar-bellied woodpeckers is mainly from South America. Restricted to the Andes in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, found between 2000– 4000m, sometimes at tree-line. It is a resident and probably sedentary bird.
Bar-bellied woodpecker is rather a silent bird. But rising then falling, high pitched kree-kreee-kreee, kee-keee-kee or quee-quee-queee of around 25 notes, recalling a small falcon. Fast, falling, chattering, sometimes trilling, described as djeeerd jeeerdjeer and kzzrrrrr. Repeated, squeaky, liquid tuip or quip notes and single, simple, soft chik or chek contact calls. Fast, repeated wicka series when excited. Though the drumming is occasional, which is rapid, repeated, and short rolls produced.
The upper surface is a smoky olive, the mantle and back are mottled bronze or reddish, and the rump is pale spotted. The underparts are cream, with darker olive or black bars, while the breast is sometimes more ochre-colored. The wings are olive, brown, or bronze in color, with pale brown bars under the wings. Two outer feathers are barred white on the upper tail. The throat is usually barred grey, buff, or olive, and the neck-sides are golden. Brown ear-coverts with fine white streaks. It is a slight, often indistinct white streak on the moustache. It has a short white supercilium, sometimes just a fleck. The iris is chestnut; the orbital ring is grey. Along with gray or olive legs, the bill is grayish and the base is paler.
The sexes are different. Scarlet streaks run from the forecrown to the nape of the male, with black flecks. A female lacks this red (although she may show some golden tones and rufous tips). In juveniles, the crowns of both sexes have red, but the females are less red; their bodies are greener and their tails are heavily barred.
Bar-bellied woodpeckers are fairly common locally, but they are uncommon and thinly distributed overall. Although poorly known and perhaps overlooked, the population is considered to be stable in general. In cloud and elfin forests, the Bar-bellied woodpecker inhabits humid or wet habitats. There are also stunted-growth forests in the uplands, bamboo stands, paramo woods, thickets, and cane breaks, all with thick understoreys.
The food and foraging of the Bar-bellied Woodpecker are presumably insects, but there is little information available. They are too low in shrubs and undergrowth and are easily overlooked. They forage discretely at all levels from the canopy. There is a tendency for woodpeckers to flock with other species of birds.
Taxonomy and variation – There are three races: nigriceps (Bolivian Andes: Cochabamba and W Santa Cruz) is tightly barred below; equifasciatus (Andes of N Colombia and Ecuador) has broad, clearly spaced blackish barring; pectoralis (Peruvian Andes) has a broader dark and narrower pale barring. Females of the last two races have dusky crowns, nominate females are blacker.
Similar species Differ from very similar but are smaller than Yellow-vented Woodpecker (mostly occurs at lower elevations) in being all-barred below. Dot-fronted Woodpecker hardly overlaps.
Read More – The White woodpecker (Melanerpes candidus)
