Chestnut-colored Woodpecker, Celeus castaneus

Chestnut-colored Woodpecker, Celeus castaneus. Photograph taken in the coastal region of Guatemala, March 2020. Photograph courtesy of Dr. Tom Bartol, Carlsbad, California.

The Chestnut-colored Woodpecker, Celeus castaneus, is a member of the Picidae Family of Woodpeckers. They are mid-sized in stature. In Mexico they are found in the coastal regions within the Atlantic Slope from central Veracruz, excluding the northwest corner of the Yucatán Peninsula, southward to Belize at elevations below 1,000 m (3,300 feet). From a conservation perspective the Chestnut-colored Woodpecker is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They are found in humid evergreen and semi-deciduous forests and forest edges. They primarily feed on ants and termites and limited amounts of fruits, other insects, nuts and seeds.