Acorn Woodpecker

How to find it

Listen first for the loud 'waka-waka' calls of groups, which are noisy and conspicuous and so easy to detect. Then look for trees full of acorn holes and for birds flying between oaks in an undulating flight. Scan the tips of dry branches, where they perch to guard their acorn stores or catch insects. Oak forest along the Cerro de la Muerte road is said to give excellent views, especially around km 80 to 95. San Gerardo de Dota and the Savegre area are also called reliable, and a bird has been seen coming to a feeder in the Dota Valley.

How to recognise it

Start with the face. The forehead is white, the throat is pale yellow and the eye is pale. A black patch around the bill is ringed by white, and a black collar crosses the chest. No other Costa Rican woodpecker of its genus has this pattern.

The rest of the plumage is plain:

- Back and wings: all black.

- Chest: streaked black and white.

- Belly: white.

- Male: crown fully red.

- Female: black band at the front of the crown.

In flight, look for a white rump and a white patch in the wing. Together with the heavily streaked breast, these confirm the bird.

Juveniles look like adult males but have a much duller crown and nape, a greyer chest with thinner streaks, and a brown or grey eye. Highland Costa Rican birds have brighter yellow throats than northern birds, and some have red feathers on the chest.

What it sounds like

Recording: elkins456, CC0 1.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

Group members may sleep in the same high hole or in two neighbouring holes. The birds eat oak acorns and insects, catching the insects in flight from a high perch.

They store acorns in holes they drill themselves, each sized to fit one acorn, and the group guards these stores together. As stored acorns dry and shrink, the birds move them to other holes so they do not fall out, and they also tuck acorns into cracks in the bark. Trees with many small holes drilled into the bark can signal that these woodpeckers are nearby.

Up to five birds can help incubate eggs and feed the chicks.

Where it lives

This is a bird of highland oak forest. It is a resident of the middle and high levels of the Central Volcanic and Talamanca ranges, found from the treeline down to about 1500 m, with occasional strays to 900 m. It is most abundant above 1850 m. One source gives the Costa Rican range as 1,200 to 3,000 m, most often 1,800 to 2,800 m, where oak forests dominate.

It frequents montane forest and clearings with scattered dead trees, and it also uses pastures that keep remnant forest trees. Numbers change locally and from year to year with the acorn crop. It is rare, or possibly only an occasional visitor, in the Tilarán range.

When to see it

It can be seen all year. It is most active in the breeding season (April to June) and during the acorn harvest, which varies by place and oak species. Breeding in Costa Rica runs from April to August.

Similar birds

It is easy to tell from other woodpeckers, because it is the only one with this bold face pattern and a notable yellowish-white eye. A Black-cheeked Woodpecker, once mistaken by a traveller for a rarer species, has a red belly patch and a black eye stripe, which this bird lacks.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Costa Rican sources call it Carpintero Careto, and the AOCR list adds the nickname Payasito, 'little clown'. A local article from Acosta says the white, blue and red head pattern looks like a little clown. Some Spanish-language pages use Carpintero bellotero, a name that points to its acorn (bellota) habit.

Status and conservation

Resident (R) on the AOCR list, and rated Least Concern with stable populations where oak forest remains.

Photography tips

Best viewing times are said to be early morning until about 8 AM, and afternoon from 2 to 5 PM. The birds often perch on the tips of dry branches near their acorn stores, which makes them open and easy to photograph. Feeding stations in the Dota area are another place to try.