The little spotted woodpecker or green-backed woodpecker (''Campethera cailliautii''), is a species of bird 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 large parts of tropical central Africa. It has an extensive range and is an uncommon species, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as being of " least concern".

Taxonomy

There are three

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 ...

: * ''C. c. nyansae'' (

Neumann Neumann is German language, German and Yiddish language, Yiddish for "new man", and one of the List of the most common surnames in Europe#Germany, 20 most common German surnames. People * Von Neumann family, a Jewish Hungarian noble family A� ...

, 1900) - southwestern Kenya and Ethiopia, northwestern Tanzania to eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, northeastern Angola, and northern Zambia * ''C. c. cailliautii'' (Malherbe, 1849) - south Somalia to northeast Tanzania * ''C. c. loveridgei'' Hartert, E., 1920 - central Tanzania to Mozambique The subspecies ''permista'' was transferred to the

little green woodpecker The little green woodpecker, or golden-backed woodpecker, (''Campethera maculosa'') is a species of bird in the family Picidae. It is found in Africa, living in forest edges, clearings, and forest-shrub mosaics. The International Union for Conser ...

(''C. maculosa'') by the

International Ornithological Congress International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

in 2022 due to similar plumage.

Description

The little spotted woodpecker grows to a length of about . The male has a scarlet crown flecked with black and a bright red nape. The female has a blackish crown spotted with white and a red nape. Both sexes have green upperparts, spotted with cream or yellow, and buff or white underparts, boldly spotted with black, and flanks barred with black. The tail is green, with individual feathers having brownish shafts. The

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 ...

is a white, the eye-ring grey with a chestnut iris, the beak grey tipped with black, and the legs and feet grey or olive. The juvenile is similar to the female in appearance, although the nape may have little red.

Distribution and habitat

The little spotted woodpecker is found in Angola,

Burundi Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili language, Swahili: ''Jamuhuri ya Burundi''; French language, French: ''République du Burundi'' ), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the ...

, Cameroon, Central African Republic,

Republic of the Congo The Republic of the Congo (french: République du Congo, ln, Republíki ya Kongó), also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply either Congo or the Congo, is a country located in the western coast of Central Africa to the w ...

, the Democratic Republic of the Congo,

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea ( es, Guinea Ecuatorial; french: Guinée équatoriale; pt, Guiné Equatorial), officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea ( es, link=no, República de Guinea Ecuatorial, french: link=no, République de Guinée équatoria ...

, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria,

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

, Somalia,

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The habitat varies across the range, being variously wet or dry forest, gallery forest or flooded forest, scrub, savannah, coastal woodland,

palm oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 33% of global oils produced from ...

plantations, gardens, or wooded villages. This is mostly a lowland bird, but it is found at altitudes of up to .

Ecology

The little spotted woodpecker feeds mainly on ants and termites, which it finds on trees. It often forages in pairs or may form part of small groups of mixed bird species.

References

External links

* (Green-backed woodpecker = ) Little spotted woodpecker
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1264601

little spotted woodpecker The little spotted woodpecker or green-backed woodpecker (''Campethera cailliautii''), is a species of bird in the family Picidae. It is native to large parts of tropical central Africa. It has an extensive range and is an uncommon species, and t ...

Birds of East Africa Birds of Central Africa

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot