Male Crimson-Crested woodpecker, Pantanal, Brazil

Crimson-crested Woodpecker is the most widespread species of Campephilus. It occurs regularly from Panama south to northern Argentina, including across the Guianan Shield and throughout Amazonia. It is a very large, robust woodpecker with a large red crest. The male is distinguished from other co-occurring large woodpeckers by the combination of barred underparts and an entirely red head that lacks facial stripes, and has only a suggestion of a black-and-white “slash” below the eye. Females have a black front to the crest, and a very broad white malar stripe that continues into the white strip down the neck. It is all black above, has a red crest and has white lines running down the sides of the black throat and shoulders, which meet in a V on the back. The underparts are white, heavily barred with black. They show white on the wings in flight. Adult males have a red line from the bill to the throat and red on the front of the crown. In adult females, these plumage features are black. Crimson-crested Woodpecker is found in a variety of habitats, from forest to forest edge and light woodland. Crimson-crested Woodpecker occurs in a wide range of habitats. Favoring continuous, humid lowland forest, this woodpecker occurs in terra firme forest, river edge forest, forest edge, and tall second growth. It usually occurs in pairs or family groups and can be quite noisy. The drum of Crimson-crested Woodpecker typically consists of 3-5 raps.

The Crimson-crested Woodpecker forages largely for insects such as Coleoptera, Isoptera, Lepidoptera (larvae of Pyralidae), and ants. Termites may be a possible food, as one female was observed apparently feeding on termites. Also consumes some fruit, such as berries of Loranthaceae and “tiny yellow seThese woodpeckers do not always peck only to find food; they also give exploratory pecks every now and then, without digging into the wood, in hope of causing the wood-boring larvae to move within their tunnels or to sound out differences between an open tunnel and solid woodeds”. When foraging on well rotted stubs for deep lying prey, Crimson-crested Woodpeckers may dig holes 10 cm or more deep, during which process they toss large pieces of wood to the ground. When on dead limbs, Crimson-crested Woodpecker combines pecking with sidewise, glancing blows that dislodge large pieces of loose bark and other debris that falls to the ground as the woodpecker moves along. They combine powerful, rapid, occasionally prying blows in order to uncover prey when on these dead limbs.