{"id":4180,"date":"2013-01-19T13:33:57","date_gmt":"2013-01-19T19:33:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/earbirding.com\/blog\/?p=4180"},"modified":"2013-01-19T13:33:57","modified_gmt":"2013-01-19T19:33:57","slug":"splitting-the-golden-fronted-woodpecker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/earbirding.com\/blog\/archives\/4180","title":{"rendered":"Splitting the Golden-fronted Woodpecker"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Golden-fronted<\/a>The taxonomy of the Golden-fronted Woodpecker and its relatives has been causing headaches for over a century.\u00a0 Not only does the species display complex geographic variation in plumage, but where ranges meet, it hybridizes with the closely related Gila Woodpecker to the northwest, the Red-bellied Woodpecker to the northeast, and the Hoffman’s Woodpecker to the south, which in turn sometimes hybridizes with the Red-crowned Woodpecker in Costa Rica.\u00a0 The result is a mind-bending mosaic of similar-looking woodpeckers stretching from Ontario to Venezuela.<\/p>\n

Current taxonomy draws species boundaries despite the hybridization, in part due to differences in vocalizations.\u00a0 For example, Red-bellied<\/a> and Hoffmann’s<\/a> Woodpeckers both give a long, churring rattle call that Golden-fronted lacks.\u00a0 Vocal differences probably help the woodpeckers keep each other straight in areas where ranges meet, making them more likely than not to choose a mate of their own taxon, keeping the level of gene flow low and maintaining the boundary between the species in the long term.<\/p>\n

As I was going through the Golden-fronted Woodpecker recordings in my collection, some of which are from Texas and some of which are from Mexico, I realized that at least one call in the Golden-fronted repertoire varies geographically.\u00a0 Birds in southern Texas and northern Mexico give a rough, single-syllabled “gaf” call rather like that of the Red-bellied Woodpecker:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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