Kaempfer's woodpecker
| Kaempfer's woodpecker | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Piciformes |
| Family: | Picidae |
| Genus: | Celeus |
| Species: | C. obrieni |
| Binomial name | |
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Celeus obrieni (Short, 1973) |
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The Kaempfer's woodpecker (Celeus obrieni), also known as Piauí woodpecker, is a species of woodpecker from Brazil. The type specimen, a female, was collected in the Brazilian state of Piauí in 1926. No other individuals were collected or seen and the bird was feared extinct, until a male was captured by Advaldo Dias do Prado during mist netting in 2006 in the state of . It was known as the Caatinga woodpecker for some time, but this name is misleading and based on confusion between two places with similar names (see below).
Normally, it has been considered a subspecies of the rufous-headed woodpecker (Celeus spectabilis), but an evaluation by the South American Classification Committee in 2003 resulted in it being recognized as a distinct species. This was based on the differences in habitat, size and plumage, combined with the large distance (more than 3000 kilometers [1850 mi]) between the ranges of the two species.
It has a total length of about 24 centimeters (9½ in). The head and remiges are mainly rufous-chestnut, the underparts and back are buff, the wing-coverts are barred in black and buff and the chest and tail are uniform black. The male has a red malar and mottling on its crest. For comparison, the rufous-headed woodpecker is larger and has extensive black barring on the back and underparts.
Little is known about its habitat preference, but it appears to be associated with bamboo (specifically Guadua paniculata) growing in Cerrado and babassu palm forest; very unlike the humid forest and woodland where the related rufous-headed woodpecker is found. There is no evidence to suggest that it occurs in Caatinga. Rather, the authors who proposed the common name Caatinga woodpecker and association it with the caatinga habitat mistook a place in the caatinga called Uruçuí-Una for the type locality Uruçuí, some 180 km. NNW in cerrado habitat.
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