Photo: Fernando Moraes
The Campephilus robustus is a forest bird of the Piciformes order, of the Picidae family. It is considered the largest woodpecker in Brazil (hence the origin of its name) and stands out for its robustness and beauty, with a red head and neck and a black and white barred chest. It measures around 36 centimeters in length, with an average weight of 200 grams. Of rare beauty, it has a red head and neck, a cream back and black wings and tail. The chest and belly are white, entirely barred by thin horizontal black stripes. The male has a small black and white ear patch, while the female has a large white malar stripe, veiled in black. Just like the other woodpecker species. C. robustus has a territorial song, different types of calls and an instrumental song, the “drumming”. It is performed by repeated blows of the nozzle on the surface of dry or hollow logs, a substrate chosen in such a way as to provide good sound amplification and noise range.