This Cuban woodpecker uses open palm savanna and woodland, and forages both on trunks and on the ground.
It is about 33-35 cm long, with mustard-yellow plumage and fine black barring that is heavier above. The male has a black cheek stripe that the female lacks.
It probes the ground and leaf litter for ants, larvae and other insects, and also searches trunks and bark. It excavates nest cavities almost exclusively in palm trees.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.