Beautiful Woodpecker

The beautiful woodpecker (Melanerpes pulcher) is a species of bird in subfamily Picinae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is endemic to Colombia. == Taxonomy and systematics == From about the middle of the 20th century until early in the 21st century most taxonomic systems treated the beautiful woodpecker and the golden-naped woodpecker (M. chrysauchen) as conspecific. The combined species and several others were for a time placed in genus Tripsurus. The beautiful woodpecker is monotypic. == Description == The beautiful woodpecker is about 17 to 18 cm (6.7 to 7.1 in) long. The sexes are alike except for their head pattern. Adult males have a whitish forehead, a scarlet crown, and a golden yellow lower nape and hindneck. Adult females have the same whitish forehead and yellow hindneck but a black forecrown and a scarlet hindcrown and nape. Both sexes have black around the eye that extends down the side of the neck. Their lores, cheeks, chin, throat, and breast are white to cream or pale yellow. Their mantle and upper wings are mainly black, with some white barring of the flight feathers, and the back and rump are white, sometimes blotched with black. Their tail is brownish black…