The brown-eared woodpecker (''Pardipicus caroli'') 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 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 native to the
African tropical rainforest. There are two
subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...
; ''P. c. caroli'' in the eastern part of its range and ''P. c. arizela'', present from Guinea-Bissau in the west to Nigeria in the east.
[ This bird has a wide range and is a common species in some areas, and the ]International Union for Conservation of Nature
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...
has rated its conservation status as being of "least concern
A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...
".[
]
Description
The male brown-eared woodpecker has a dark brown fore-crown and red hind-crown, while the female lacks the red colour. In other respects, the sexes are similar. There is a buff supercilium
The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head.Dunn and Alderfer (2006), p. 10 Also ...
and a large patch of rufous-brown behind the eye and over the ear coverts. The mantle back and wings are olive-brown, and the tail is deep brown with white speckling on the outer feathers. The face and throat are olive-green speckled with white, and the breast and belly are olive green streaked with buff, yellow or white. The long beak is bluish-grey, the legs are olive and the iris chestnut.
Distribution and habitat
The brown-eared woodpecker is found in Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.[ It is a bird of dense tropical forest, both primary and secondary, with dangling vines and thick regrowth. It also occurs in plantations, riverine forests and more open locations with grassy woodland. It is a rather shy bird, and forages for ants and other small invertebrates among the vines and undergrowth.][
]
References
Further reading
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{{Taxonbar, from=Q901647
brown-eared woodpecker
The brown-eared woodpecker (''Pardipicus caroli'') is a species of bird in the family Picidae. It is native to the African tropical rainforest. There are two subspecies; ''P. c. caroli'' in the eastern part of its range and ''P. c. arizela'', ...
brown-eared woodpecker
The brown-eared woodpecker (''Pardipicus caroli'') is a species of bird in the family Picidae. It is native to the African tropical rainforest. There are two subspecies; ''P. c. caroli'' in the eastern part of its range and ''P. c. arizela'', ...
brown-eared woodpecker
The brown-eared woodpecker (''Pardipicus caroli'') is a species of bird in the family Picidae. It is native to the African tropical rainforest. There are two subspecies; ''P. c. caroli'' in the eastern part of its range and ''P. c. arizela'', ...
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN