Brown-eared Woodpecker
Pardipicus caroli
Dark, medium-sized woodpecker of humid forest. Mostly dark olive-green, with a large and distinctive glossy-brown ear patch. The underparts are heavily marked with yellowish spots. Males have a small red patch on the back of the head. Birds in most of the range have bronzy tones to the back, while i n the western part of the range the back is more greenish. Found in rainforest, gallery forest, and lush secondary habitat at low and middle elevations. The most distinctive call is a very long whistle that rises then fall. Also gives a plaintive rattling call and a slightly tapering drum. Similar to Buff-spotted Woodpecker, but larger, and with a dark cheek patch.
Identification
The male brown-eared woodpecker has a dark brown fore-crown and red hind-crown, while the female lacks the red colour. In other respects, the sexes are similar. There is a buff supercilium and a large patch of rufous-brown behind the eye and over the ear coverts. The mantle back and wings are olive-brown, and the tail is deep brown with white speckling on the outer feathers. The face and throat are olive-green speckled with white, and the breast and belly are olive green streaked with buff, yellow or white. The long beak is bluish-grey, the legs are olive and the iris chestnut.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Pardipicus caroli
- Authority
- (Malherbe, 1852)
- Order
- Piciformes
- Family
- Picidae
- Genus
- Pardipicus
Range and habitat
The brown-eared woodpecker is found in Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. It is a bird of dense tropical forest, both primary and secondary, with dangling vines and thick regrowth. It also occurs in plantations, riverine forests and more open locations with grassy woodland. It is a rather shy bird, and forages for ants and other small invertebrates among the vines and undergrowth.
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Other Birds
Lemon-chested Greenlet
Hylophilus thoracicus
Small green vireo-like bird found in humid forests, flooded forests, and woodlands. Note the pale eyes contrasting with a yellow-green crown and upperparts, and a grayish face and throat. Also note the yellow breast and white belly. The subspecies from northwestern Amazonia has a green face and breast. The song is a repetition of “tchuwet” notes.
Rwenzori Hill Babbler
Sylvia atriceps
Chunky mid-sized bird with a rich-brown back, a gray breast, rufous flanks, and a black head. Found in thick and tangled portions of the understory and mid-story of montane forest, usually in pairs. Skulking bird that is most often detected by voice: a pleasant series of several fluty whistles. Similar to illadopsises, but easily separated by its all-dark head.
Townsend's Shearwater
Puffinus auricularis
Endangered, small black-and-white shearwater, endemic to Mexico. Found around Socorro Island mainly from November to May, and rarely offshore between Jalisco and Oaxaca. It is usually found with feeding flocks of other shearwaters, boobies, and terns. Flight is fast and strong, wheeling fairly high in strong winds. Blackish above and white below with blackish undertail coverts, fairly long tail, and white patches or saddlebags that wrap up around the base of the tail. Similar species: Black-vented Shearwater is dark brownish above without the strong black cap of Townsend’s.
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