The Black-cheeked woodpecker (Melanerpes pucherani) has a black patch through the eyes and on the cheeks, a yellow forehead, and a red nape. The tail is black with some white barring, and the underparts are pale buff-olive with a red central belly. There is a black patch through the eyes and on the cheeks, a yellow forehead, and a red nape (back of the neck). The crown is red in the male and black in the female. It has black upperparts with white barring on the back, white spotting on the wings and a white rump. It is a resident breeding bird from south-eastern Mexico south to western Ecuador and lives in the higher levels of wet forests, semi-open woodland and old second growth. It nests in an unlined hole 6-30 m high in a dead tree.
