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.

Picid in Focus: Green Woodpecker Picus viridis

The range of this species occurs almost entirely within the Western Palearctic where it is widespread and locally common. Four races generally accepted. It is the most terrestrial picid in this region. It is also referred to as Eurasian or European Green Woodpecker. Photo: Male (note red in malar stripe), England, David Hosking.

Literature: The Guadeloupe Woodpecker

This excellent monograph is one of the very few books published on a single picid species. It was researched and written by Pascal Villard and published in 1999 by the Societe d'Etudes Ornithologiques de France (S.E.O.F.) but nevertheless is in English. The book is particularly strong on biology and ecology. Besides a detailed "all-you-need-to-know" text on Melanerpes herminieri, there are also many superb colour photos, drawings, maps and graphs. There is also a section on other island dwelling Melanerpes species.