Rufous Woodpecker

The rufous woodpecker is a medium-sized brown woodpecker about 25cm long, with dark bands on the wing and tail feathers that give it a black-barred look, a paler head and a weak, erectile crest. The bill is short and black. Males have red-tipped feathers below the eye, sometimes forming a patch, which females lack. In the field birds often look soiled and smell of the secretions of the ants they feed on (Wikipedia, general species account).

It forages in pairs on small insects, particularly ants and termites, working ant nests on trees, fallen logs and termite mounds in scrub, evergreen and deciduous forest. It is best known for nesting inside the carton nests of tree ants of the genus Crematogaster. It was once placed in the South American genus Celeus because of its looks, but DNA shows this was convergence and it belongs in its own genus (Wikipedia, general species account).