Appearance
The adult Hoffmann's woodpecker is 18 cm long and weighs 68 g . Its upperparts and wings are neatly barred with black and white, and it has a white rump. The underparts are pale buff-grey with a yellow central belly patch. The male has a white forehead, red crown, and yellow nape. The female has a white crown and forehead and reduced yellow nape. Young birds are duller, have less white above and less yellow on the belly.The golden-fronted woodpecker replaces it to the north. It is very similar, but has a yellow forehead; also, the calls are very different. The two species hybridize at the Rio Pespire in Honduras.
Naming
This woodpecker is named for the German naturalist Karl Hoffmann.
Behavior
This common and conspicuous species gives a rattling ''wicka-wicka-wicka'' call and both sexes drum on territory.Habitat
This woodpecker occurs in deciduous open woodland, second growth, shade trees and hedges, but avoids dense forest. It feeds on insects, often extracted from decaying wood, but will take substantial quantities of fruit and nectar and will mob the ferruginous pygmy owl.Reproduction
It nests in an unlined hole up to 9 m high in a dead tree. The clutch is two or three glossy white eggs, incubated by both sexes.References:
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