English             -               Yellow-eared Woodpecker

Portuguese     -                Picapauzinho de Testa Pintada

Latin                -                 Veniliornis maculifrons

As like most woodpeckers I have come across here in Brazil, I heard the Yellow-eared Woodpecker before I saw it. I was walking along the wetlands (Yellow trail) at REGUA (Reserva Ecológica de Guapiaçu) on a bright sunny day when I started hearing a tap tap tapping in some trees close to the waters edge. After hearing the tapping I went into “Marc’s stealth mode” and I managed to get quite close to it and snap some photos. I think it was aware I was there but didn’t seem to mind as I was able to observe it for quite along time. Always happy to photograph a member of the woodpecker family.

* The Yellow-eared Woodpecker is a  little-known species in terms of its biology.

*  It is a smallish bird with a length of around 15cm.

* It’s call is a series of long vibrating sonorous “ew” notes, rising and then falling.

* It is endemic to Brazil and only found in the humid Atlantic rainforest in the east of the country. 

* It’s habitats includes secondary and primary forest areas in lowlands and foothills of the Atlantic rainforest.

* Diet includes insect larvae, invertebrates and some fruits.

* The Yellow-eared Woodpecker It makes its nest by making holes in trunks and branches of dead trees and palm trees, where it lays its eggs. No other info on it’s breeding habits.

* The Yellow-eared Woodpecker is a very little-known woodpecker. Not globally threatened, even though it is a restricted-range species. Number are thought to be stable but can come under pressure from deforestation. The Yellow-eared Woodpecker is classified at this stage as a species ”of least concern”.