Their upper breast is yellowish green; the feathers have pale centers and dark tips.

Juveniles are greener than adults and males have red only from the rear crown to the hindneck.

[6] The white-throated woodpecker is found from far southwestern Colombia south on the east side of the Ecuadorian and Peruvian Andes to central Bolivia.

[6] The white-throated woodpecker usually forages alone, sometimes in pairs, and also joins mixed species feeding flocks.

It forages at the mid- to upper levels of the forest and typically feeds by probing and flaking off bark.

[1] It is poorly known and considered uncommon; "[u]ncertainty over its taxonomic position has made assessment of any past records very difficult.