Picid in Focus: Little Green Woodpecker Campethera maculosa

This easily overlooked species has a restricted range in western Africa in Senegal, Sierra-Leone, Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau, Ghana and Liberia. It was also recently found in Gambia. It inhabits forest edges, open, fragmented woods, riverside forest and logged areas and clearings with scattered trees. Photo: Female Little Green Woodpecker, Gambia, November 2010, Vaughan Ashby.

Habitats: Southern Beech Forest

The mature forests of southern beech (Nothofagus species) in Patagonia, southern Argentina are a key forest habitat of the southern hemisphere. Two woodpecker species are found here, Magellanic Woodpecker Campephilus magellanicus and Striped Woodpecker Veniliornis lignarius. Indeed most of their range is restricted to such forests, particularly stands of Lenga Nothofagus pumilio.

Genus: Dinopium

The Dinopium genus contains 4 species, all found in south-east Asia: Olive-backed Woodpecker D.rafflesii (2 subspecies), Himalayan Flameback D.shorii (2 subspecies), Common Flameback D.javanense (6 subspecies) and Black-rumped Flameback D.benghalense (4 subspecies). There is great variation in plumage between the various subspecies. Photo: Male Black-rumped Flameback, Northern India, Szabolcs Kokay.

Habitats: Pre-Puna

The Pre-Puna of Argentina and Bolivia is a scrub and shrub dotted grassland and desert belt which lies between the higher, barren Puna proper and the forested zone lower down. This treeless landscape, often with gorges and rocky slopes, may seem to be an unlikely habitat for woodpeckers and indeed just one picid species, the highly terrestrial Andean Flicker Colaptes rupicola, has established itself in this niche. This photo of a typical Pre-Puna landscape is from the Parque Nacional Los Cardones in NW Argentina.