White spots mark this small woodpecker’s black breast, and black bars cross its white belly. It lives in the mountain forests of northwestern Peru and searches for food among shrubs and vines.
The upperparts are dark grey with pale edging on the feathers. The wing feathers have conspicuous white fringes, and the black crown and breast are spotted white. The belly is white with black bars; males have red on the forecrown.
It searches for food in low dense shrubs, at the ends of thin twigs, and on vines. It forages alone, in pairs or family groups, and in mixed-species flocks. The source gives no data on its diet.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.