Picid in Focus: Brown-capped Woodpecker Dendrocopos moluccensis

Brown-capped Woodpecker. Female. The taxonomy of this tiny picid is complex. There are two distinct groups of races which are sometimes considered to be separate species: eastern moluccensis and western nanus. Indeed, several vernacular names can be found in the literature including Brown-capped Pygmy Woodpecker and Indian Pygmy Woodpecker for the nanus group and Sunda Woodpecker and Malaysian Pygmy Woodpecker for the moluccensis group. Photo: nanus, Northern India, Szabolcs Kokay.