Hispaniolan Woodpecker

The Hispaniolan woodpecker (Melanerpes striatus) is a medium sized woodpecker found in the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. The woodpeckers habitat maily restricted to Haiti and Dominican republic.Also found few caribbean islands inther Greater Antilles

Size : 20-24cm , Weight – male 83–92 g, female 65–75 g

Found all over the islands from sea level to 2400mtr above. Normally feeds on fruits,insects,also spiders, scorpions (Scorpiones); lizards and tree sap(tree juice/liquid).

Some places this birds are considered as agricultural pest for sufficiently abundant in numbers especially near fruit orchards.

It is a very attractive woodpecker with a largely red crown and nape (most extensive in males, which also have distinctively longer bills), gray cheeks, black and yellow-green barred upper   parts, a red rump and black tail, and dark buffy-olive underparts. It nests in tree-cavities and breeds in loose colonies of up to 20 pairs to protect nesting bank.