It is found in Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela.

[2] The species was first described by the French naturalist Alcide d'Orbigny as Picus fumigatus, based on individuals observed in the Province of Corrientes in Argentina, and later in Santa Cruz de la Sierra in Bolivia.

[7][4][8] The genus name Leuconotopicus derives from the Ancient Greek leukos (white), noton (back) and pikos (woodpecker).

Their longish beak is blackish with a paler mandible, their iris deep brown to red-brown, and the legs grayish.

Juveniles are duller and more sooty brown than adults, without the red tinge on the back, and with white bars on some flight feathers.

Subspecies sanguinolentus is smaller and has shorter wings than oleagineus; it is a richer brown than the nominate and has a paler face and no white around the eye.

[10] The smoky-brown woodpecker forages singly, in pairs, or in family groups, and often joins mixed species feeding flocks.

It usually hunts the middle and low levels of the forest, often in dense foliage and vine tangles, but will feed in the canopy and at isolated trees.

Both sexes excavate the nest cavity, usually in a dead branch or trunk or sometimes in a fence post, and typically between 1.5 and 8 m (5 and 25 ft) above the ground.