White-fronted Woodpecker

Melanerpes cactorum (d'Orbigny, 1840)

White-fronted Woodpecker, Melanerpes cactorum, is a woodpecker of South America, breeding in Bolivia and western Paraguay to north-central Argentina. It is a bird of dry forest, dry scrub and high-altitude shrubland, and also occurs in chaco, savannah, semi-desert, palm groves, gallery forest and farmland with scattered trees. The adult has a black crown and upperparts, a white fore-crown and cheeks, and a narrow white line down the back from the nape. Males may show a small red patch on the crown, and juveniles are duller.

Order

Piciformes

Family

Picidae — Woodpeckers

Breeding range

South America: Bolivia and w Paraguay to nc Argentina