Cardinal Woodpecker
Dendropicos fuscescens
A small, compact woodpecker with heavily streaked underparts and a solid black moustachial streak. In the female the top of the head is completely dark, while in the male the forecrown is brown and hindcrown and nape are red. Pairs inhabit a wide range of savanna, woodland, forest-edge, and riverine forest, where they feed in dead branches and smaller twigs ignored by larger woodpeckers. An angry-sounding, dry, trilled rattle call often gives it away.
Identification
Like other woodpeckers, this species has a straight pointed bill, a stiff tail to provide support against tree trunks, and zygodactyl or “yoked" feet, with two toes pointing forward, and two backward. The long tongue can be darted forward to capture insects.<p>This is a very small woodpecker. It measures 14 to 15 cm (5.5 to 5.9 in) from bill tip to tail tip, and its body shape is typical of a woodpecker. Its back plumage is dull olive in colour, and is marked with paler dots and bands. The underparts are white, heavily streaked with black, and the rump plumage is tawny. The white throat and face are separated by a conspicuous black malar stripe, and the fore crown is olive brown. As with other woodpeckers, the head pattern varies with age and sex. The male has a red hind crown and nape, the female has a dark hind crown and black nape. Juvenile males have a red hind crown and black nape. The small crest is raised when the bird is excited.
Taxonomy
The cardinal woodpecker was formally described in 1818 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot under the binomial name Picus fuscescens. This woodpecker is now placed with 11 other sub-Saharan woodpeckers in the genus Dendropicos that was introduced by the French ornithologist, Alfred Malherbe in 1849. The word Dendropicos combines the Ancient Greek dendron meaning tree with pikos meaning woodpecker. The specific epithet fuscescens is Modern Latin for "blackish".<p>A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2017 found that the cardinal woodpecker was sister to the speckle-breasted woodpecker (Dendropicos poecilolaemus).<p>Nine subspecies are recognized.
- Scientific name
- Dendropicos fuscescens
- Authority
- (Vieillot, 1818)
- Order
- Piciformes
- Family
- Picidae
- Genus
- Dendropicos
Range and habitat
The cardinal woodpecker is native to tropical parts of western and central Africa. Its range includes Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is found in a wide range of habitats from dense forest to thorn bush.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: stable.
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Medium Egret
Ardea intermedia
A stocky egret that is larger than Eastern Cattle and Little Egrets, but smaller than the Great Egret. Often confusing and difficult to identify, this bird is truly intermediate between potential confusion species. Things to look for include a yellow bill that is shorter than Great Egret but longer than Eastern Cattle Egret, a relatively rounded head, and shorter legs than Great Egret, approaching Eastern Cattle Egret. Like most egret species, associates with all types of water bodies including wet fields, often flocking with other egrets.
San Blas Jay
Cyanocorax sanblasianus
Handsome blue-and-black jay of tropical forests, woodlands, and gardens endemic to west Mexico. Usually in small groups, which can be noisy and conspicuous or very quiet and easily overlooked; often with Yellow-winged Caciques. Around the town of San Blas (in Nayarit, Mexico), appreciably larger Purplish-backed Jay occurs at southern end of its range (and northern end of San Blas Jay’s range). Purplish-backed is deep purplish blue on back and tail, not strikingly two-toned blue-and-black like San Blas Jay, and has bright yellow legs. Voices also very different. Purplish-backed occurs in mangroves and adjacent woodlands in and around town while San Blas Jay occurs in foothill forest of coffee plantations south of town.
Boulder Finch
Idiopsar brachyurus
Gray finch-like bird with an oddly elongated bill. It is only found in boulder fields and other rocky areas of the high Andes, usually above treeline. Females are browner than males, and young birds are faintly streaked. Long bill and white smudge below eye distinguish it from Plumbeous Sierra Finch. Always found on or near rocks, and often perches with its head tilted upward.
Start Your Bird Watching Journey
Identify a bird outdoors and keep the field guide close for your next observation.