Japanese green woodpecker or Japanese woodpecker (''Picus awokera'') is a medium-sized

woodpecker 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. ...

similar and closely related to the

European green woodpecker The European green woodpecker (''Picus viridis'') is a large green woodpecker with a bright red crown and a black moustache. Males have a red centre to the moustache stripe which is absent in females. It is resident across much of Europe and the ...

, but endemic to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. This species reaches about 30 cm in length, with bright green wings and tail, a red or black mustache and crown (as opposed to the black face of the green woodpecker), gray head, neck, and chest, and white underparts with black markings. The Japanese green woodpecker is divided into at least two subspecies: * ''P. a. awokera'', the nominate subspecies, found on

Honshū , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separa ...

* ''P. a. horii'', native to

Kyūshū is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surround ...

The binomial is a reference to the Japanese name of the species, ''aogera''.

References

External links

Japanese woodpecker
at Avibase

Japanese green woodpecker Japanese green woodpecker or Japanese woodpecker (''Picus awokera'') is a medium-sized woodpecker similar and closely related to the European green woodpecker, but endemic to Japan. This species reaches about 30 cm in length, with bright gr ...

Endemic birds of Japan

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