North-eastern Brazil, from eastern Piauí through southern Ceará to Paraíba, Pernambuco and Alagoas.
 
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010) and decreasing.
Status NT
Habitat destruction and degradtion through logging and conversion to agriculture, grazing and burning, is the main threat.
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.
Voice
A descending series of calls 'driée driée driée ... '.
Tawny Piculet (Picumnus fulvescens) [XC201333]
by id from Araripe National Forest, Crato, Cear\u00e1 State, Brazil (song)
Tawny Piculet (Picumnus fulvescens) [XC6310]
by GABRIEL LEITE from Barbalha, Chapado do Araripe, south of Cear\u00e1 State., Brazil (song)
Subspecies
Probably related to Ochraceous Piculet (Picumnus limae) and sometimes even regarded as conspecific, but may perhaps be closer to Mottled Piculet (Picumnus nebulosus). Form saturatus, described from Paraíba and previously listed as a subspecies of Ochraceous Piculet (Picumnus limae), is now considered a junior synonym of fulvescens, which has priority by merely one day.