Buff-rumped Woodpecker
Meiglyptes grammithorax
Adorable small woodpecker with a large crested head, boldly marked black-and-white wings, and big dark eyes. Also note finely barred belly. Male has a faint red “moustache” stripe. Inhabits lowland and foothill forests and forest edge, where it often forages in pairs, poking along on the ends of thinner branches and between bark crevices. Sometimes visits ant nests in the forest canopy. Joins mixed flocks. Gives high chittering calls, as well as a rising “pwit!”
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Meiglyptes grammithorax
- Authority
- (Malherbe, 1862)
- Order
- Piciformes
- Family
- Picidae
- Genus
- Meiglyptes
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Red-shouldered Spinetail
Synallaxis hellmayri
Angry-looking bird with a long spiky tail and brown plumage contrasting with a black throat and a rusty shoulder patch. Occurs in arid, scrubby woodlands where normally forages on or close to the ground. The song is a repetition of a short, fast “quebéc.”
Magpie Mannikin
Spermestes fringilloides
Large waxbill with a big bill. Shows a black head, brown back, and black scallops along the sides of the breast. Found in bamboo, moist scrub, moist cultivation, lush savanna, and forest edge. Quite scarce across most of its range. Call is a descending “teeiw”. Superficially similar to Bronze Mannikin but larger and bigger-billed, with an all-black head and distinctive scallops along the breast sides.
Lord Howe Rail
Gallirallus sylvestris
A long-necked and short-tailed rail with a long decurved bill. Uniformly brownish red, sometimes with variable barring on underside and flanks. Flightless. Naturally occurs in subtropical forest, but now mostly restricted to highest mountains. No similar species occur in its range. Often heard giving an advertising “coo-eet” call, but also commonly a series of drumming “booomp” notes.
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