- Hispaniolan Woodpecker
-
Hispaniolan Woodpecker 
Conservation status Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Piciformes Family: Picidae Subfamily: Picinae Genus: Melanerpes Species: M. striatus Binomial name Melanerpes striatus
(Statius Muller, 1776)The Hispaniolan Woodpecker, Melanerpes striatus, is a medium sized woodpecker endemic to the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.
Their back is covered in yellow and black stripes. Males have a dark red stripe from their forehead to their neck while females the red stripe extends from the nape to the neck only. Their tail base is brilliantly red while the tail itself is black. The rump is olive-grey.
Unlike most woodpeckers the Hispaniolan Woodpecker is a social species that takes advantage of having a large number of individual adult birds in the colony to protect a nesting bank or tree.
Their habitat, which is restricted to Haiti and the Dominican Republic, extends from the coasts, over the deserts to the mountains of the island.
Gallery
-
Melanerpes striatus
References
- Short, LL: "Burdens of the picid hole-excavating habit", Wilson Bulletin, 1979
- BirdLife International (2004). Melanerpes striatus. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 30 December 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
External links
- Hispaniolan Woodpecker videos on the Internet Bird Collection
- Stamps (for Dominican Republic-(2), Haiti)
- Hispaniolan Woodpecker photo gallery VIREO Photo-High Res-(Close-up)
This woodpecker-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. -
