ML49970761

Age and sex

Adult Male - X

Media notes

Male Gray-breasted Woodpecker photographed by Curtis A. Marantz on 2 March 2017 at Teotitlan de Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico.

Observation details

Brad spotted the first bird as we drove through town as it perched atop an antenna above a house along the road. We then studied these birds both in the morning and late in the afternoon when the light was somewhat better. I heard a few calls, but in general these birds were rather quiet, and the calls that I did hear were typical of a Melanerpes. The bird I saw best was a male that was essentially identical to a Gila Woodpecker in size and shape. This bird had a straight bill of medium-length that tapered from a base of medium-depth to a pointed tip along a straight culmen, and in length I estimated that the bill would have extended backward on the face at least to the rear edge of the auriculars, if not slightly beyond. The forehead was relatively steep but the crown was smoothly rounded on a head of unremarkable size. The neck was short and inconspicuous and the body was plump, full-chested, and held upright as the bird clung to the antenna pole. The wings were long and with tapered wingtips that reached maybe halfway out a tail that was about three-quarters the length of the body without the head and neck. I also noted a primary projection that was most of the length of the exposed secondaries and in which I noted the tips of at least four primaries extending beyond the longest secondary. The tail was used as a prop and the rectrices each appeared to be pointed. The legs were relatively short, stout, and splayed outward, but I failed to count the toes. This was a boldly marked bird, yet its patterns were more subtle than those of some members of the genus. On the immediate forehead was narrowly cream-colored wedge that extended up to the junction with the forecrown, behind which the rounded cap back to the nape and down to the lower edge of the crown was bright red. I further noted a short, black line separating the whitish forehead from a similarly colored eyering that was oddly shaped in that even though it was round and complete, the upper edge had an extension that projected a short way behind the rear edge that met it, which resulted is a complete eyering but also a little more. Immediately below the eye on the cheek was a small and somewhat diffuse spot of an even brighter shade of red than that which characterized the cap. Apart from the markings noted above, the face was a dull, medium-gray in color behind the eyering, across the auriculars, and even on the lower part of the face and throat apart from the spot on the cheek. The back and sides of the neck were this same shade of gray and unmarked, as were the breast, belly, and sides. I further noticed a small region of fine dark barring on the flanks that was generally quite inconspicuous. Contrasting sharply with the plain gray neck, the back, scapulars, and wing coverts were finely barred with black and about the same shade of gray that characterized the neck. I thought the black bars were slightly broader than the gray ones, but in general, the bars were narrow, well-defined, and of even character throughout the back, scapulars, and coverts. Contrasting with the black-and-gray bars, however, were black-and-white bars of comparable width on the remiges. On the primaries the bars were of equal width and they seemed a bit coarser than those on the coverts and back. The secondaries also had black-and-white bars but they were not quite as coarse, and on the innermost secondaries, the black feathers had broad, white notches on both the inner and outer webs that produced a boldly barred pattern. The exposed primary tips were almost solidly black but each feather did appear to be narrowly tipped with white. I had a hard time seeing the rump, but it appeared to be extensively white. The rectrices that I could see around the wings appeared to be mostly black, but they too had white relatively narrow notched of white along at least their outer edges. The bill was black, the eyes were dark brown, and the legs were medium-gray.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

Lens

EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM

ISO

320

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/8.0

Shutter speed

1/800 sec

Dimensions

2088 pixels x 1348 pixels

Original file size

2.04 MB