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Article: Provisioning of Magellanic Woodpecker (Campephilus magellanicus) nestlings with vertebrate prey.
- Article from:
- The Wilson Journal of Ornithology
- Article date:
- June 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Wilson Ornithological Society. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Although several woodpecker species (especially melanerpine species) regularly prey on the nestlings and eggs of other birds, and a small number of species occasionally capture lizards or even mice, picids are generally not considered to be important predators of vertebrates (Short 1982, del Hoyo et al. 2002). The diet of the Magellanic Woodpecker (Campephilus magellanicus), the largest Neotropical picid, remains largely unstudied; the species is considered a specialist predator of large, wood-boring larvae (Short 1970, 1982). There is only one record of a Magellanic Woodpecker capturing vertebrate prey (a lizard, Liolaernus sp.; Ojeda 2003), and, based on what was known ...