Varzea piculet Varzea piculet The varzea piculet ("Picumnus varzeae") is a species of bird in the family Picidae, the woodpeckers, piculets, and wrynecks. It is endemic to Brazil's Amazon basin where it occurs in seasonally flooded Várzea forests, which gives the bird its common name. Its natural habitat is tropical moist lowland forest, and as the trees are progressively being cleared in the Amazon basin, the population of the bird is declining, and as a consequence, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated it as an "endangered species". This species was first described in 1912 by the German-Brazilian ornithologist Emilie
White-barred piculet northeastern Brazil; "P. c. thamnophiloides" found in southeastern Bolivia and northeastern Argentina; "P. c. tucumanus" found in northwestern Argentina; the Pilcomayo piculet, "P. c. pilcomayensis" found in southeastern Bolivia, Paraguay and northeastern Argentina; and the nominate subspecies "P. c. cirratus" found in southeastern Brazil, southern Mato Grosso and eastern Paraguay. The taxonomy of this species is difficult; the races "pilcomayensis", "thamnophiloides" and "tucumanus" intergrade in northern Argentina and are sometimes considered a separate species, and "pilcomayensis" intergrades with "cirratus" in eastern Paraguay. The northern subspecies, "confusus" and "macconnelli" may also be a distinct species. The white-barred piculet also hybridizes widely