The ashy woodpecker (''Mulleripicus fulvus'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

in the woodpecker family

Picidae Woodpeckers are part of the bird family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks, and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar, and the extreme polar regions. M ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Sulawesi Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Ar ...

and surrounding islands in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. There are two subspecies, the nominate race ''M. f. fulvus'', which is found in northern Sulawesi, the islands of Lembeh and Manterawu, and the archipelagos of

Togian The Togian (or Togean) Islands are an archipelago of 56 islands and many offshore islets, situated in the Gulf of Tomini, off the coast of Central Sulawesi, in Indonesia. The largest islands are Batudaka, Togean, Talatako and Una-Una. Ther ...

and Banggai; and ''M. f. wallacei'', from southern Sulawesi and the islands of

Muna Muna may refer to: Places * Muna (Mikulovice), a World War II POW camp and ammunition factory in the Czech Republic * Muna, Estonia, village in Rõuge Parish, Võru County, Estonia * Muna, Iran, village in East Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Mu ...

and Buton. The second subspecies is named for the collector and scientist

Alfred Russel Wallace Alfred Russel Wallace (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. He is best known for independently conceiving the theory of evolution through natural se ...

.Winkler, H. & Christie, D.A. (2017). Ashy Woodpecker (''Mulleripicus fulvus''). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). ''Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive''. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from http://www.hbw.com/node/56334 on 4 March 2017) Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s are tropical moist lowland

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

s and tropical moist

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

s. They prefer closed forest, but can be found in secondary forest and patches of forest in savannah. They are assumed to be non-migratory, and can be found from sea level to .The species is not uncommon and is considered secure for now. The ashy woodpecker is a large woodpecker, in length. The male has a red face to the mid-crown, and the back of the head and neck are grey. The throat, front of the neck and belly are buff-coloured, and the rest of the back and wings are grey-brown to dark slate grey. The long bill is black, and the iris of the eye yellow; the eye is surrounded by a grey eye-ring. The female is like the male but the head is entirely grey, faintly spotted except for the forehead. ''M. f. wallacei'' resembles the nominate subspecies, but the red on the face encompasses most of the head. It also has a slightly longer tail and wings, but a slightly shorter bill. The calls include laughing calls of ''hew-hew-hew-hew-hew'' and ''tuk tuk tuk'', but these are muffled, not loud. They also drum during the breeding season. Ashy woodpeckers predominantly feed on trees, but may also break into termite nests on the ground. In trees, they are often seen on trunks. They feed on termites, caterpillars and other insects and arthropods. Little is known about their nesting; one pair was observed digging a nest hole, with the male doing most of the work. Nesting holes are found in dead trees or in the dead sections of living trees. Two to three eggs are laid.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1052794

ashy woodpecker The ashy woodpecker (''Mulleripicus fulvus'') is a species of bird in the woodpecker family Picidae. It is endemic to Sulawesi and surrounding islands in Indonesia. There are two subspecies, the nominate race ''M. f. fulvus'', which is found in ...

Endemic birds of Sulawesi

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot