The Crimson-crested Woodpecker (= Black-and-White Woodpecker, Malherbe's Woodpecker), Campephilus melanoleucos, forms a with C. guatemalensis and C. gayaquilensis. Crimson-crested Woodpeckers are found widely in the east of the Andes and west of the Atlantic coast, from Panama, Venezuela, Trinidad, and the Guianas south to Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil. They inhabit a wide range of habitats, including cloud, rain, gallery, and deciduous forests, as well as fairly open woodlands and . They can be found also in second growth, clearings, forest edge, semi-open country, plantations, palm groves, pastures, and in swampy areas; they are sometimes seen on single trees away from forest. They are reported to reach 900 m in Central America, up to 2000 m in the northern parts of Venezuela and to 950 m in the south, and 2500 m (or even 3100 m) in the Andes. Crimson-crested Woodpeckers are active, conspicuous, and relatively tame and are often observed in pairs or small groups foraging at heights of 6 to 25 m foraging for large wood-boring beetles, ants, and termites, as well as pyralid caterpillars, small insects, and berries.
(Winkler et al. 1995 and references therein; Winkler and Christie 2002 and references therein; del Hoyo et al. 2014 and references therein)
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