[5][6][7][2][8][9] The International Ornithological Committee (IOC) and BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World assign these 18 subspecies to the golden-olive woodpecker:[2][9] The American Ornithological Society and the Clements taxonomy add C. r. aeruginosus which IOC and HBW treat as a separate species, the bronze-winged woodpecker.

[6][12][13] The specific epithet rubiginosus means "full of rust", describing the color of the bird's wings and back.

Adult males of the nominate subspecies C. r. rubiginosus have a slate gray forehead and crown with a red border and nape.

They have a wide red malar stripe and a pale buffy white chin and upper throat; the last has heavy blackish streaks.

Both sexes have mostly green upperparts with a bronze tinge; their rump and uppertail coverts are paler and barred with dark olive.

Between those extremes are cloudforests, oak-pine woodland, dry deciduous forests, riparian thickets, and mangroves.

[11] The golden-olive woodpecker forages from the forest's mid level to the canopy, exploring the trunk, limbs, branches, and vines of large trees.

Its primary diet is ants, termites, and wood-boring beetles and their larvae; it adds fruits and berries but rarely.

[14] The golden-olive woodpecker's breeding season has not been determined for its whole range, but it appears to vary geographically.

"This widespread species' ability to live in a wide variety of wooded habitats suggests that its future is secure.