Woodpecker Vocalisations

Woodpeckers tend to make simple calls, much simpler in structure than those of, for example, most passerines. Calls are highly functional and are made year round, by both sexes. But the extent to which the different species call varies greatly, some are rather taciturn, others (especially gregarious social species) are often noisy. In this photo a Cardinal Woodpecker Dendropicos fuscescens in Tanzania is in full voice (Gerard Gorman).

Picid in Focus: Elliot's Woodpecker

Here is an often silent, easily over-looked and seldom photographed woodpecker from Africa: Elliot's Woodpecker Dendropicos elliotii male. Photographed in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda, by Gerard Gorman.

Picid in Focus: Andean Flicker

Andean Flicker Colaptes rupicola. A male of the puna race, which has red on the hindneck and in the malar stripe. This is one of the world's most terrestrial picids. Photo, central Peru, November 2012, Gerard Gorman.

Picid in Focus: Red-breasted Sapsucker

Red-breasted Sapsucker Sphyrapicus ruber. The sexes are very similar in plumage. Photo taken near Bend, Oregon, USA, in July 2014 by Gerard Gorman.