Jamaican Woodpecker

The Jamaican woodpecker was another bird high on my list of "want-to-sees." It is endemic to Jamaica and found all over the island. I saw one at each of: (a) Rocklands Bird Sanctuary outside of Montego Bay; (b) at Hotel Mockingbird Hill, in Drapers, east of Port Antonio; and (c) in San San, just east of Drapers, along the road behind the police station. 

This male was seen in San San. 

Males and females look similar, except for their head pattern. Males have a white to buff forehead and red from the forecrown to hindneck. Females have a white to buff forehead, a gray crown and red only on the hindcrown and hindneck. The cheeks, chin and throat are white, the bill is long and black and the iris of the eye is red and bare skin around the eye is gray to brown. Their upperparts are black with thin white bars and sometimes with a greenish tinge. Flight feathers are black with narrow white bars and the tail is black with white bars on the central feathers and and white spots on the outer feathers.  and the underparts are olive-buff with yellowish to reddish on the central belly. The lower flanks and undertail coverts are black with white bars. 

This female was seen at Rocklands Bird Sanctuary.