A woodpecker of open Andean highlands, marked by a white rump and yellow wings, that often feeds on the ground.
It has a gray crown, buffy face, and a large white rump patch. Both sexes have a dark whisker mark, tipped red in males. Yellow wing-feather shafts are most visible in flight.
It feeds mainly on the ground. It nests in cavities in dirt bluffs or old building walls and sometimes nests in colonies.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.