LC
Beautiful Woodpecker Melanerpes pulcher



Taxonomy

Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
SACC. 2005 and updates. A classification of the bird species of South America. Available at: https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm.

IUCN Red List criteria met and history
Red List criteria met
Critically Endangered Endangered Vulnerable
- - -

Red List history
Year Category Criteria
2024 Least Concern
2016 Least Concern
2012 Least Concern
2009 Least Concern
2008 Least Concern
2006 Least Concern
2004 Not Recognised
2000 Not Recognised
1994 Not Recognised
1988 Not Recognised
Species attributes

Migratory status not a migrant Forest dependency medium
Land-mass type Average mass -
Range

Estimate Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident) 55,300 km2 medium
Severely fragmented? no -
Population
Estimate Data quality Derivation Year of estimate
Population size unknown - - -
Population trend decreasing - suspected -
Generation length 3 years - - -

Population justification: The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is described as rather scarce and local throughout its range (del Hoyo et al. 2002). This species is considered to have a medium dependency on forest habitat, and tree cover is estimated to have declined by 11.5% within its mapped range over the past 10 years (Global Forest Watch 2022, using Hansen et al. [2013] data and methods disclosed therein). Therefore, as a precautionary measure, it is tentatively suspected that this loss of cover may have led to a decline of between 1-19% in the species' population size over the same time frame.

Trend justification:   .


Country/territory distribution
Country/Territory Presence Origin Resident Breeding visitor Non-breeding visitor Passage migrant
Colombia extant native yes

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)
Country/Territory IBA Name
Colombia Embalse de San Lorenzo y Jaguas
Colombia Refugio Río Claro
Colombia Reserva Regional Bajo Cauca Nechí
Colombia Serranía de las Quinchas
Colombia Serranía de San Lucas

Habitats & altitude
Habitat (level 1) Habitat (level 2) Importance Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial Plantations suitable resident
Artificial/Terrestrial Subtropical/Tropical Heavily Degraded Former Forest suitable resident
Forest Subtropical/Tropical Dry major resident
Forest Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland major resident
Forest Subtropical/Tropical Moist Montane suitable resident
Altitude 110 - 1780 m Occasional altitudinal limits  

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Beautiful Woodpecker Melanerpes pulcher. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/beautiful-woodpecker-melanerpes-pulcher on 25/11/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 25/11/2024.