Smoky-brown Woodpecker (Leuconotopicus fumigatus) [XC631163]
by Julian Mondragon from Florida, Departamento de Santa Cruz, Bolivia (drumming)
Smoky-brown Woodpecker (Leuconotopicus fumigatus) [XC261884]
by Paul Coopmans from Esmeraldas: San Vicente Alto, Cordillera de Lachas, Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve, Ecuador (drum)
Subspecies
Relationships uncertain. Molecular-genetic analysis suggests very close relationship to Hairy Woodpecker (Leuconotopicus villosus), perhaps to extent that the two could justifiably be treated as congeneric. Further study is needed. Subspecies intergrade to some extent; birds from south-western Ecuador may be intermediate between nominate and subspecies obscuratus. Northern Colombian (Santa Marta) birds previously separated as subspecies exsul, those of north-eastern Venezuelan mountains as tectricialis, and those of central Colombia and Ecuador as aureus, but all appear insufficiently different to warrant recognition.
The following 5 subspecies are recognised:
oleagineus (Reichenbach, 1854) - Eastern Mexico.
sanguinolentus (Sclater, PL, 1859) - Central and southern Mexico to western Panama.
reichenbachi (Cabanis & Heine, 1863) - Northern and north-eastern Venezuela.
fumigatus (D'Orbigny, 1840) - Eastern Panama and Colombia south through Ecuador and eastern Peru to western Bolivia and north-western Argentina (Jujuy).
obscuratus (Chapman, 1927) - South-western Ecuador (El Oro and western Loja) to north-western Peru (Huancabamba and bend of R Marañón).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet