Colaptes campestris (Vieillot, 1818)

Size and Weight

The campo flicker (Colaptes campestris) is approximately 30 cm (12 in) long and weighs about 150 g (5.3 oz).

Sexual Dimorphism

Males and females share identical plumage except for facial markings: males have a red malar stripe, while females have a black malar stripe.

Adult Head Plumage

Adults of both recognized subspecies have a black crown and a yellow face, with white coloring surrounding the eye.

Subspecies Throat Difference

The only difference between the two subspecies is throat color: the nominate subspecies C. c. campestris has a black throat, while C. c. campestroides has a white throat.

Upperparts Plumage

The upperparts of both subspecies are brown marked with dull white bars, and the rump is white with a small number of narrow dark bars.

Flight Feathers

Their flight feathers are brown with yellow shafts.

Upper Tail Plumage

The upper surface of the tail is black; the central and outermost tail feathers have thin paler bars.

Lower Tail Plumage

The tail is brown with white bars on the outermost feathers.

Underparts Plumage

Their underparts are white with brown bars.

Soft Part Features

This species has a long gray bill, reddish brown irises, and gray legs.

Juvenile Plumage

Juveniles are very similar to adult campo flickers, but have lighter yellow plumage.

Nominate Subspecies Range

The nominate subspecies of campo flicker has several separate disjunct populations. Three small populations are located in southern Suriname and the northern Brazilian states of Pará and Amapá. The fourth, far more extensive population ranges from Maranhão in eastern Brazil south and west into Mato Grosso do Sul (Brazil), central Paraguay, and northern and eastern Bolivia.

C. c. campestroides Range

Subspecies C. c. campestroides occurs from central and southern Paraguay, Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, and Uruguay, south into northeastern and eastern Argentina as far as Río Negro Province.

Subspecies Interbreeding

The two subspecies interbreed in their contact zone across Paraguay and southern Brazil.

Habitat Types

The campo flicker lives in a wide variety of landscapes, most of which are semi-open to open. These habitats include savanna, the Pampas, scrub, gallery forest, the edges of denser forest, Pantanal grasslands, and cerrado, as well as human-altered landscapes such as parks, farmland, and heavily grazed pasture.

Elevation Range

Across different parts of its range, it occurs at elevations from as low as 80 m (260 ft) up to 1,700 m (5,600 ft).