27 January 2010, Summit Ponds, Summit, Panama

This is the most common woodpecker in most of Panama. It resembles several
other species in the genus Melanerpes. It overlaps slightly with the
similar Hoffmann's Woodpecker in Costa Rica and hybridizes with it
occasionally.

http://fog.ccsf.edu/~jmorlan/CostaRi...AN1_large.html

http://fog.ccsf.edu/~jmorlan/CostaRi...604_large.html

Hoffmann's in turn hybridizes occasionally with the similar Golden-fronted
Woodpecker which ranges north through Mexico and Texas.

Four subspecies of Red-crowned Woodpecker are currently recognized. This
is the nominate race which ranges from Costa Rica to Tobago (skipping
Trinidad). A couple of darker races are found on small islands off Panama
and another even darker subspecies is found in parts of Venezuela.

I have previously digiscoped this species on Tobago:

http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2...40004820imUlHu The race
found on Tobago (M. r. terricolor) has been synonomized with M. r.
rubricapillus.

Digiscoped with Panasonic DMC-LZ5 | Nikon FieldScope 3 | 30X WA | hand-held
(no adapter)