Woodpeckers are part of the bird family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar and the extreme polar regions. Most species live in forests or woodland habitats, although a few species are known that live in treeless areas, such as rocky hillsides and deserts, and the Gila woodpecker specialises in exploiting cacti.
The pileated woodpecker is a large, mostly black woodpecker native to North America. An insectivore, it inhabits deciduous forests in eastern North America, the Great Lakes, the boreal forests of Canada, and parts of the Pacific Coast. It is the largest confirmed extant woodpecker species in North America, with the possible exception of the ivory-billed woodpecker, which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed be reclassified as extinct. It is also the third largest species of woodpecker in the world, after the great slaty woodpecker and the black woodpecker. "Pileated" refers to the bird's prominent red crest, from the Latin pileatus meaning "capped".
The imperial woodpecker is a woodpecker species endemic to Mexico. If it is not extinct, it is the world's largest woodpecker species, at 56–60 cm (22–23.5 in) long. Researchers have discovered that the imperial woodpecker has slow climbing strides and a fast wing-flap rate compared with other woodpeckers. Owing to its close taxonomic relationship, and its similarity in appearance, to the ivory-billed woodpecker, it is sometimes called the Mexican ivory-billed woodpecker, but this name is also used for the extant pale-billed woodpecker. The large and conspicuous bird has long been known to the native inhabitants of Mexico and was called cuauhtotomomi in Nahuatl, uagam by the Tepehuán and cumecócari by the Tarahumara.
The roseate spoonbill is a gregarious wading bird of the ibis and spoonbill family, Threskiornithidae. It is a resident breeder in both South and North America. The roseate spoonbill's pink color is diet-derived, consisting of the carotenoid pigment canthaxanthin, like the American flamingo.
Lewis's woodpecker is a large North American species of woodpecker which ornithologist Alexander Wilson named after Meriwether Lewis, one of the explorers who surveyed the areas bought by the United States of America as part of the Louisiana Purchase and first described this species of bird.
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a member-supported unit of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, which studies birds and other wildlife. It is housed in the Imogene Powers Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity in Sapsucker Woods Sanctuary. Approximately 250 scientists, professors, staff, and students work in a variety of programs devoted to the Lab's mission: interpreting and conserving the Earth's biological diversity through research, education, and citizen science focused on birds. Work at the Lab is supported primarily by its 100,000 members and supporters.
The fiery-billed aracari or fiery-billed araçari is a near-passerine bird in the toucan family Ramphastidae. It is found in Costa Rica and Panama.
The pale-billed woodpecker is a species of bird in subfamily Picinae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is found from Mexico to Panama.
Frank Bennington Gill is an American ornithologist with worldwide research interests and birding experience. He is perhaps best known as the author of the textbook Ornithology, the leading textbook in the field.
The stripe-cheeked woodpecker is a species of bird in subfamily Picinae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is endemic to Panama.
The cream-backed woodpecker is a species of bird in subfamily Picinae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
The waved woodpecker is a species of bird in subfamily Picinae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.
The helmeted woodpecker is a Vulnerable species of bird in subfamily Picinae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is found in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay.
The black-bodied woodpecker is a Near Threatened species of bird in subfamily Picinae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay.
Arthur Augustus Allen was an American professor of ornithology at Cornell University.
Living Bird is a quarterly magazine published by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Editorial director Gustave Axelson leads the team of writers, editors, and designers that produce the magazine.
The ivory-billed woodpecker is a woodpecker that was native to the bottomland hardwood forests and temperate coniferous forests of the Southern United States and Cuba. The US Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing it as extinct September 29, 2021. Habitat destruction and hunting have reduced populations so thoroughly that the species is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on its Red List as critically endangered, and by the American Birding Association as "definitely or probably extinct". The last universally accepted sighting of an American ivory-billed woodpecker occurred in Louisiana in 1944, and the last universally accepted sighting of a Cuban ivory-billed woodpecker occurred in 1987, after the bird's rediscovery there the prior year. Sporadic reports of sightings and other evidence of the persistence of the species have continued since then.
John Value Dennis was an American ornithologist and botanist.
Albert Rich Brand was an author and innovator in the recording of bird songs. Herbert J. Seligmann wrote Man and Bird Together: A Portrait of Albert R. Brand about him.
