Lafresnaye's piculet (''Picumnus lafresnayi'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Picumninae The piculets are a distinctive subfamily, Picumninae, of small woodpeckers which occur mainly in tropical South America, with just three Asian and one African piculet, African species. Like the true woodpeckers, piculets have large heads, long t ...

of the woodpecker family

Picidae 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. ...

. It is found in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

, and

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 24 July 2022. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved July 24, 2022

Taxonomy and systematics

Lafresnaye's piculet has these four subspecies: *''Picumnus lafresnayi lafresnayi''

Malherbe Malherbe may refer to: People * Malherbe (surname) ** François de Malherbe (1555-1628), French poet, reformer of French language Places France * La Haye-Malherbe, municipality of Eure (département), Eure * Malherbe-sur-Ajon, new municipal ...

, 1862 *''Picumnus lafresnayi punctifrons''

Taczanowski Taczanowski (Polish feminine: Taczanowska; plural: Taczanowscy) is the surname of a Polish szlachta (nobility) family from Poznań bearing the Jastrzębiec coat of arms and the motto: ''Plus penser que dire''. They took their name from their ...

, 1886 *''Picumnus lafresnayi taczanowskii''

Domaniewski Janusz Witold Domaniewski (30 April 1891 – 15 March 1954) was a Polish ornithologist and conservationist. He was a curator at the Warsaw zoological museum and was involved in the establishment of a nature preserve in the Tatra Mountains, Tat ...

, 1925 *''Picumnus lafresnayi pusillus''

Pinto Pinto is a Portuguese, Spanish, Jewish (Sephardic), and Italian surname. It is a high-frequency surname in all Portuguese-speaking countries and is also widely present in Spanish-speaking countries, Italy, India (especially in Mangalore, Karnata ...

, 1936 What is now Lafresnaye's piculet was for a time treated as a subspecies of the

bar-breasted piculet The bar-breasted piculet (''Picumnus aurifrons'') is a species of bird in subfamily Picumninae of the woodpecker family Picidae.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins ...

(''P. aurifrons''). Subspecies ''P. l. punctifrons'' was at one time treated as a separate species. What is now the Orinoco piculet (''P. pumilus'') was previously considered to be a subspecies of Lafresnaye's piculet, and they are now thought to form a

superspecies In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

Description

Lafresnaye's piculet is long and weighs . Adult males of the nominate subspecies ''P. l. lafresnayi'' have a dark olive-brown cap with red spots on the forehead and whitish ones on the rest of it and the nape. Their face is grayish buff with brown streaks or spots and a pale stripe behind the eye. Their upperparts are dark green or brownish green with yellowish green bars. The upper side of their tail is blackish; the innermost pair of feathers have mostly white inner webs and the outer three pairs have a large white area near the tip. Their chin and throat are buffish white with narrow black marks. Their underparts are pale yellowish white with wide black bars. Adult females are identical but for whitish spots on their entire crown. Juveniles are similar to adults but duller overall, greener above, and less evenly barred below.Winkler, H. and D. A. Christie (2020). Lafresnaye's Piculet (''Picumnus lafresnayi''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.lafpic1.01 retrieved January 9, 2023 The other three subspecies of Lafresnaye's piculet have yellow-orange spots on the forehead instead of the nominate's red ones. In addition, ''P. l. punctifrons'' has a darker face and narrower bars on its underparts than the nominate. ''P. l. taczanowskii'' has a blacker crown and wider, more irregular, dark barring on its underparts. ''P. l. pusillus'' has a slight rufous tinge to its upperparts, narrow dark bars on its underparts, and a mostly unbarred center of the belly.

Distribution and habitat

The subspecies of Lafresnaye's piculet are found thus: *''Picumnus lafresnayi lafresnayi'', from southeastern Colombia south through eastern Ecuador to Peru's

Department of San Martín San Martín () is a department and region in northern Peru. Most of the department is located in the upper part of the Peruvian Amazon rainforest. Its capital is Moyobamba and the largest city in the department is Tarapoto. Geography Bounda ...

*''Picumnus lafresnayi punctifrons'', northern Peru's

Amazonas Department Amazonas Department may refer to: * Amazonas (Colombian department), the Colombian department of Amazonas * Amazonas (Peruvian department), the Peruvian department of Amazonas * Department of Amazonas (Peru–Bolivian Confederation), the department ...

*''Picumnus lafresnayi taczanowskii'', northeastern and north-central Peru between the departments of

Huánuco Huánuco (; ) is a city in central Peru. It had a population of 196,627 as of 2017 and in 2015 it had a population of 175,068. It is the capital of the Huánuco Region and the Huánuco District. It is the seat of the diocese of Huánuco. The met ...

and

Ayacucho Ayacucho (, , derived from the words ''aya'' ("death" or "soul") and ''k'uchu'' ("corner") in honour of the battle of Ayacucho), founded in 1540 as San Juan de la Frontera de Huamanga and known simply as Huamanga (Quechua: Wamanga) until 1825, i ...

*''Picumnus lafresnayi pusillus'', north-central Brazil along the middle Amazon east to the Rio Negro Lafresnaye's piculet inhabits the edges and clearings of humid mature forest and also

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has regenerated through largely natural processes after human-caused Disturbance (ecology), disturbances, such as Logging, timber harvest or agriculture clearing, or ...

. In elevation it mostly is found up to but occurs occasionally as high as in Ecuador.

Behavior

Movement

As far as is known, Lafresnaye's piculet is a year-round resident throughout its range.

Feeding

Lafresnaye's piculet gleans prey in the lower and middle strata of the forest. It is known to favor termites and is assumed to also feed on other small invertebrates. It often joins

mixed-species foraging flock A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock (birds), flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species that join each other and move together while fora ...

Breeding

Lafresnaye's piculet apparently breeds between July and November. Few nests are known; one was in a hole about above the ground in a shrub and had two eggs. Both sexes care for hatchlings. The incubation period and time to fledging are not known.

Vocalization

Lafresnaye's piculet is not highly vocal, but does occasionally make a "high-pitched 'tseeyt, tsit'." The call has also been described as an "extr. high 'see-see'."

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

has assessed Lafresnaye's piculet as being of Least Concern. It has a large range but its population size is not known and is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified. It is considered " common to fairly common" in Ecuador and rare in Peru.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1266137 Picumnus (bird) Birds of the Colombian Amazon Birds of Peruvian Amazonia Birds of the Amazon rainforest Birds described in 1862 Taxa named by Alfred Malherbe Taxonomy articles created by Polbot