Ringed woodpecker

The ringed woodpecker (Celeus torquatus) is a species of bird in subfamily Picinae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is found in every mainland South American country except Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

The ringed woodpecker is 26 to 29 cm (10 to 11 in) long. The nominate subspecies C. t. torquatus weighs 107 to 124 g (3.8 to 4.4 oz) and C. t. occidentalis weighs 122 to 135 g (4.3 to 4.8 oz); weight data are lacking for C. t. tinnunculus. Both sexes of all subspecies have a pale cinnamon head with a rufous tinge and a moderately bushy crest. The sexes differ only on their faces: Adult males of all subspecies have a red patch from the malar area to under the ear coverts, and sometimes have some red elsewhere on the head; females have no red on the head. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a black lower throat, breast, and upper mantle. Their upperparts from the lower mantle to the uppertail coverts are rufous brown. There are usually a few black feathers on the lower mantle and black marks and bars on the wing coverts. Their flight feathers are barred black and rufous, with blackish brown tips on the primaries and more rufous on the secondaries. Their tail is rufous with narrow black bars and a wide black tip. They have unmarked cinnamon-buff underparts. All subspecies' bills are long with a maxilla that is various shades of gray or brown and a grayish white or greenish yellow mandible. Their iris is red to red-brown and their legs gray brown or dark gray. Juveniles resemble adults but have more black on their face and more barring on their upperparts.

Subspecies C. t. occidentalis has a somewhat darker head than the nominate. It has a black breast and black bars on the mantle rather than solid black. Its back, flight feathers, and tail also have black bars. Its underparts are tawny rufous with black bars rather than the nominate's plain cinnamon-buff. Subspecies C. t. tinnunculus has its entire upperparts buffy rufous with black bars and its flight feathers barred rufous and black. Its tail's central feathers are rufous with black bars and tips; the outer three pairs are mostly black. Their lower throat and the middle of their breast is black. The rest of their underparts are pale buffish white with heavy dark barring that approaches "V" shape on the flanks.