White-wedged Piculet Gallery

Picumnus albosquamatus

The Birds of the World website provides this introductory information about the White-wedged Piculet:  The White-wedged Piculet is an inhabitant of gallery forest and cerrado from central Brazil west to Bolivia and Paraguay.  The White-wedged Piculet has warm brown upperparts and a black crown; the feathers of the forecrown of the male are tipped with red. The feathers of the throat and breast are white, bordered with black, forming a scaled appearance on the underparts. This piculet is similar in size and appearance to several other species of Picumnus in central South America, such as the White-barred Piculet Picumnus cirratus and the Ochre-collared Piculet Picumnus temminckii of southeastern South America, and with the Ocellated Piculut Picumnus dorbignyanus of the Andes. The White-wedged Piculet apparently hybridizes with each of these species, where their ranges adjoin. Otherwise little is known about the foraging and breeding habits of the White-wedged Piculet.

I saw and photographed my first White-wedged Piculet on the morning of August 21, 2023 at Parque Mãe Bonifácia in Cuiabá, Brazil. I had a free day from my  tour activities, so I went to the park by myself and spent the morning walking the trails and looking for birds.  I was unfamiliar with this bird and it was not until I blew up a photo that I realized just how attractive it was! For a more detailed description of the trip that included my sighting of this bird look at this blog post.  Here are some of my photos of this unique little bird.