This woodpecker ranges from southern Mexico through Central America into northwestern South America and the Andes. It has olive plumage with fine bars, and males show a red facial stripe.
The upperparts are olive and the underparts are olive-barred. The face is mostly whitish; males have a red moustachial stripe and red on the rear crown.
The Trinidad subspecies searches the canopy for insects and larvae and sometimes feeds on low stumps at forest edges.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.