The black-cheeked woodpecker (Melanerpes pucherani ) is a resident breeding bird from southeastern Mexico south to western Ecuador.
This woodpecker occurs in the higher levels of wet forests, semi-open woodland and old second growth. It nests in an unlined hole 6–30 m (20–98 ft) high in a dead tree. The clutch is two to four glossy white eggs, incubated by both sexes.
The binomial commemorates the French zoologist Jacques Pucheran.
The black-cheeked woodpecker feeds on insects, but will take substantial quantities of fruit and nectar.
This common and conspicuous species gives a rattling krrrrrl call and both sexes drum on territory.
The adult is 18.5 cm (7.3 in) long and weighs 63 g (2.2 oz). It has black upperparts with white barring on the back, white spotting on the wings and a white rump. The tail is black with some white barring, and the underparts are pale buff-olive with a red central belly. There is a black patch through the eyes and on the cheeks, a yellow forehead, and a red nape. The crown is red in the male and black in the female. Young birds are duller, have less white above and less red on the belly.