Blood-colored Woodpecker

The blood-coloured woodpecker is about 13 cm (5.1 in) long and weighs 23 to 30 g (0.81 to 1.1 oz). Males and females have the same plumage except on their heads. Adults of both sexes have a mostly brown face. Males are crimson-red from crown to nape with brown feather bases showing through. The female has a brown crown with thin white feather tips. Both sexes' upperparts are dark crimson-red with greenish-brown bases to the feathers. Their flight feathers are dark brown with greenish brown edges on the primaries and wide crimson edges on the secondaries and tertials. Their tail is dark brown. Their underparts are dark brownish with off-white bars throughout. The iris is dark red-brown, the longish beak dark gray with a lighter tip, and the legs are blackish. Juveniles are generally duller and browner than adults.

Though some sources say that the blood-coloured woodpecker is found in "the Guianas", the South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society has records only in Guyana and Suriname, and not French Guiana. It is a bird of the coastal lowlands, where it inhabits mangroves, swamp forest, and sometimes coffee plantations. The blood-coloured woodpecker is a year-round resident throughout its range.

The blood-coloured woodpecker forages in trees and shrubs, typically singly or in pairs. Its diet includes ants, beetles, and caterpillars.