About Celeus flavescens (J.F.Gmelin, 1788)
Scientific name: Celeus flavescens (J.F.Gmelin, 1788) Common name: Blond-crested woodpecker
The blond-crested woodpecker measures approximately 27 to 30 cm (11 to 12 in) in length. The nominate subspecies weighs between 110 and 165 g (3.9 to 5.8 oz). Males of both subspecies have a wide, bright red malar area and cheek; this red marking sometimes extends around the eye and occasionally includes the lower forehead. Females have black streaks rather than red on the malar and cheek, and no red anywhere else on their head.
For the nominate subspecies, adult birds of both sexes have a pale creamy buff to yellowish white head, including the long, pointed crest, chin, and throat. The side of the neck often has black streaks. Adults have a black mantle and upper back, while the lower back, rump, and uppertail coverts are buffish white to pale yellow; the uppertail coverts sometimes have black bars. Their flight feathers are black with narrow white bars, and some flight feathers have white tips. Their wing coverts have alternating black and white bars. Their tail feathers are black, with whitish edges or bars on the outermost pair. Their lower neck and underparts are black, with faint pale barring on the flanks and undertail coverts. Their thighs are pale yellow to buffish, marked with black spots or streaks. The adult's bill is horn-colored, or sometimes blue-gray to black, with a paler lower mandible; the iris is red or red-brown, and the legs are blue-gray. Juveniles resemble adults but are duller in color and have more black on the face.
Subspecies C. f. intercedens has whitish to buff-white coloration on the head and lower back, and sometimes has some rufous coloring in the flight feathers.
The main call of the blond-crested woodpecker is a resonant loud 'tsew' or 'wee' that is repeated up to seven times. The species also produces a well-spaced series of 'wheep' notes, an aggressive 'tttrrr', and a raucous 'wícket wícket'. Its drumming consists of weak, evenly pitched short rolls.
Of the two recognized subspecies, C. f. intercedens occupies the more northerly range. It occurs in western Bahia, Goiás, and Minas Gerais in east-central Brazil. The nominate subspecies is found to the southeast of C. f. intercedens' range, from southern Bahia to Rio Grande do Sul, extending into eastern Paraguay and the Misiones Province of Argentina. The species inhabits the interior and edges of humid forest, as well as gallery forest, savanna, caatinga, and orchards.
