This small, colorful woodpecker is described from western Ecuador to northwestern Peru. It has a red back, white underparts, and sex-specific crown colors. BirdLife’s country records also include Colombia.
Small and colorful, with a red back and white underparts bearing fine markings. The male has red on the crown, while the female’s crown is black.
It occurs in dry deciduous forest, scrub, and degraded rainforest. eBird notes a long rattling trill, and BirdLife records it at 0–1,800 m.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.