Brown-fronted Woodpecker
Dendrocoptes auriceps
A common mid-sized woodpecker of the Himalayas. Note brownish forehead, dark cheek stripe, distinctive black barring on white back, and white spots on black shoulders and wings. The yellow head is bordered by red feathers in the male and by black feathers in the female. Often moves in mixed flocks with other species through open woodlands, gardens, and forest edges. Calls include a sharp “pic” and various nasal, mewing sounds.
Identification
A medium-sized, pied woodpecker with yellow in crown. White-barred (rather than spotted) black. Underparts, prominent black moustache extending to breast and black-streaked white underparts. Vent deep pink. In male forecrown brown, centre yellow, rear red with black rear neck. In female whole crown yellow.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Dendrocoptes auriceps
- Authority
- (Vigors, 1831)
- Order
- Piciformes
- Family
- Picidae
- Genus
- Dendrocoptes
Range and habitat
Its natural habitats are temperate forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.
- Migration
- Vertical migration
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Mountain Quail
Oreortyx pictus
Uncommon and more often heard than seen. Listen for the male's ventriloquial song, a rich whistled "PWEE-uh" that carries for great distances. Found in scrubby montane forest, often in small groups. Boldly patterned quail with tones of rich chestnut and blue-gray accentuated by white highlights. Look especially for the long, straight black plume atop the head and thick white bars on the sides, which help separate this species from California Quail. Female is slightly drabber than male.
Victoria's Riflebird
Ptiloris victoriae
Large songbird with long decurved bill. Male almost completely black, with green and blue metallic sheen on belly, throat, and crown. Female brown above, buff below, with a sparse scaly pattern on chest and belly and a pale eyebrow. Inhabits rainforest and nearby drier forest in northern Queensland (i.e., around Cairns). Call a loud explosive hiss, often repeated. Males display from a prominent upright stump or snag, holding wings high above the head, flashing bright yellow gape, bobbing, raising wings individually, and swaying.
Yellow-breasted Crake
Laterallus flaviventer
Very small and rarely seen crake of freshwater marshes and ponds in tropical lowlands. May favor areas with water lilies and other emergent vegetation, where it sometimes walks out into view on floating vegetation. Plumage distinctive, with blackish cap and eyestripe, buffy breast, and boldly barred flanks. Flies up weakly when flushed, with yellowish legs dangling.
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