Pale-billed Woodpecker
Where and when to see the Pale-billed Woodpecker
DraftOn the Yucatán Peninsula
It lives inside and at the edges of tall and medium forest, usually in pairs. Listen for its drumming and look for fresh chips on big dead trunks.
Where it’s reported most
- CalakmulCalakmul, Campeche
- MuyilFelipe Carrillo Puerto, Quintana Roo
- CobáTulum, Quintana Roo
- Uxuxubi Al NaturalPlaya del Carmen, Quintana Roo
When
All year · most reports Nov–Mar
Most reports from November to March.
Reports relative to effort
- January: 100%
- February: 84%
- March: 80%
- April: 46%
- May: 49%
- June: 66%
- July: 69%
- August: 75%
- September: 63%
- October: 56%
- November: 94%
- December: 88%
Data: eBird and other datasets via GBIF.org (CC BY 4.0), 2015–2026 · Base map: Natural Earth
Needs large trees, living and dead, in mature or tall secondary forest, where it digs for beetle larvae. Its loud double knock carries far through the selva.
- Identification
- A big black woodpecker with a long, pale ivory bill and white stripes down the sides of the neck that nearly meet in a V on the back. Males have an all-red head with a bushy crest; females have a black forehead and throat.
- Voice
- A nasal chatter that sounds like a squeeze toy.
What the photo doesn’t show
DraftTwo knocks
Instead of a long drum roll, it usually drums a loud, rapid double rap on a trunk. Only rarely does it give a longer, ringing series of up to seven raps. 1
Grub hunter
It digs into rotten wood and pries bark off dead trees in search of big wood-boring beetle grubs, which make up most of its diet. Termites and small fruits add to the menu. 1
Kin to legends
It belongs to Campephilus, the same genus as the Ivory-billed Woodpecker of the southern United States and Mexico’s Imperial Woodpecker, which may already be extinct. 2
No big trees, no woodpecker
It needs large trees to feed and nest, and it disappears where the forest is cleared or heavily logged. 1
Sources
- Wikipedia: Pale-billed woodpecker (opens in a new tab)
- Wikipedia: Campephilus (opens in a new tab)
- IUCN Red List category, via GBIF: Campephilus guatemalensis (opens in a new tab)
- DOF, 14/11/2019: NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010, Anexo III (opens in a new tab)
Map and months: 2,404 records from 2015–2026 from eBird, iNaturalist, and others, via GBIF.org (CC BY 4.0), in 0.1° squares (about 10 km). eBird: doi.org/10.15468/aomfnb.
Months: the species’ records ÷ all bird records that month, scaled to the busiest month. It allows for birding effort; it is not the chance of seeing it. A blank square: few or no reports, not necessarily absent.
Tell us where, or ask how to find one.
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