Black-dotted piculet Foraging birds may repeat the song a few times and then fall silent for several minutes. Birds of this species forage in pairs, often widely separated, or alone. They occasionally join mixed-species flocks. They often "hitch sideways along branches," and they peck or drill like woodpeckers in rotting wood and at broken ends of branches. The taxonomy of "Picumnus" is controversial, and this taxon has been considered conspecific with the white-bellied piculet, conspecific with the golden-spangled piculet, and a synonym (incorrect name) of a subspecies of the scaled piculet ("P. squamulatus obsoletus"). Here it is considered a separate species following
Ocellated piculet slightly barred. The iris of the eye is black or brown, the beak is blackish and the legs and feet are grey. There is a grey orbital ring around the eye. Juveniles resemble females but are rather darker, with fine barring on the mantle and underparts. The ocellated piculet is native to South America. It is found in the foothills on the eastern side of the Andes, its range extending from Peru and Bolivia to northern Argentina, at altitudes between . Its habitat is primary rainforest and secondary moist forest, where it frequents bushy undergrowth, with vines, creepers and epiphytes.