Checker-throated Woodpecker
Chrysophlegma mentale
Ornate medium-sized woodpecker. Moss-green with blood-red wings and neck. Back edge of head and neck are brightened by a sunny yellow crest. Black-and-white “checker” throat is not particularly obvious. Prefers mature lowland and hill forests; seldom seen in secondary growth or sparsely-vegetated edge. Typically forages at mid-levels of forest, frequently singly but also in mixed flocks or pairs. Gives loud, insistent “nyeh” notes and a strident “choo-yik!”
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Chrysophlegma mentale
- Authority
- (Temminck, 1826)
- Order
- Piciformes
- Family
- Picidae
- Genus
- Chrysophlegma
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The species has been recorded as breeding in March and April in Malaysia, and between February and June in Borneo, using nests is excavated in deadwood. It feeds on insects supplemented by berries, foraging by gleaning and probing in the lower and middle canopy storeys.
Conservation
The checker-throated woodpecker is greatly threatened by deforestation caused by illegal logging for primary forest wood and the expansion of palm oil plantations and other agricultural developments, and appears to be declining. It is currently classified as Near threatened by the IUCN.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Large Lifou White-eye
Zosterops inornatus
A bizarre, large and heavy-billed white-eye that is notably distinctive among a group of birds famed for being homogeneous. Note gray plumage overall contrasting with olive head and wings. Unusually shy for a white-eye, typically found skulking low in dense growth. Only potential confusion species on Lifou is the resident subspecies of Silverye, which is smaller with a smaller bill, brighter plumage, and contrasting black in the face. Best found via its relatively low-pitched, pleasant song made up of mellow whistled notes.
Red-billed Woodcreeper
Hylexetastes perrotii
Large, stout-billed woodcreeper of tall rainforest in northeastern Amazonia. Plumage entirely rufous-brown with no barring or streaking; note thick reddish bill, white throat, and prominent white whisker mark (bill of young birds is dark brown). Found in tall rainforest as well as slightly lower-stature forests on sandy soils; generally less common than other large woodcreepers. Climbs along tree trunks and large branches at middle and upper levels, probing bark crevices for insects and small vertebrates; occasionally follows army ant swarms to capture animals fleeing up tree trunks. Heard more often than seen. Song, given mainly at dawn, is a far-carrying, hoarse whistle repeated 3–4 times, very unlike other woodcreepers. Amazonian Barred-Woodcreeper, which also has a reddish bill and suggestion of a pale whisker, may occur with Red-billed at ant swarms and be mistaken for it in dim understory light; note Red-billed’s stouter bill and plain face with obvious whisker streak.
Australian Fairy Tern
Sternula nereis
Very small coastal tern with forked tail. Nests on sandy beaches, where it is sensitive to disturbance. Very similar to Little Tern, which overlaps in range in parts of southern Australia. In breeding plumage, note yellow bill (in southern Australia lacking black tip) and orange-yellow legs. In contrast to Little Tern, Fairy has a gap between the black in front of eyes and the bill (in breeding Little, the black extends to the bill). In nonbreeding plumage, bill much darker. Hunts by flying low over the water and plunging down to snatch prey from the surface. New Zealand subspecies very rare and breeds only at four sites on the east coast of the southern Northland.
Start Your Bird Watching Journey
Identify a bird outdoors and keep the field guide close for your next observation.