Tristram's woodpecker (''Dryocopus javensis richardsi'') (, Japanese: ) is a Korean subspecies of the white-bellied woodpecker. It was firstly identified and described by English scholar and ornithologist

Henry Baker Tristram Henry Baker Tristram FRS (11 May 1822 – 8 March 1906) was an English clergyman, Bible scholar, traveller and ornithologist. As a parson-naturalist he was an early supporter of Darwinism, attempting to reconcile evolution and creation. Biogra ...

in 1879.

Description

Tristram's woodpecker, with its 46 cm length, is among the largest of all woodpeckers. Both the tuft and the cheek patches are crimson red; its upper parts are black, which contrast with its white underparts, wing tips and a white rump. It has four toes, of which two are directed backwards. Its tail feathers are firm. Its native name was derived from its strange call, which sounds like "kullak!"

Habitat and ecology

This woodpecker inhabits dense mountain forests above 1,000 m, as well as urban areas. It is commonly found in areas with

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. The unrelate ...

s, oaks, poplars, and

elm Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the flowering plant genus ''Ulmus'' in the plant family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical-montane regions of Nor ...

s. It prefers dead trees, where it nests in the hollow trunk and searches the bark for insects. The breeding period is from April to May, where the female lays three to four eggs. It forages for food before sunrise and it returns its nest at sunset. It can move quickly from tree to tree, and when it perceives danger, it jumps into a hollow tree trunk.

Threats

Historically, Tristram's woodpecker was found on the Japanese island of

Tsushima Tsushima may refer to: Places * Tsushima Island, part of Nagasaki Prefecture ** Tsushima, Nagasaki, a city in Nagasaki Prefecture (coterminous with Tsushima Island) ** Tsushima Province, a historical province, coterminous with modern Tsushima Su ...

and on the Korean peninsula. Due to intensive hunting and the request for museum specimens in the Western world between 1898 and 1902, this subspecies almost completely disappeared from that island. In 1920, Japanese ornithologist Dr.

Nagamichi Kuroda was a Japanese ornithologist. His works included ''Birds of the Island of Java'' (2 Volumes, 1933–36) and ''Parrots of the World in Life Colours'' (1975). He described the crested shelduck The crested shelduck (''Tadorna cristata''), or Kor ...

found the last specimen on Tsushima. Also, in Korea it became a rare bird due to expansive deforestation. Though it was legally protected since 1952, it had vanished from South Korea by 1989. In 1993, a pair were spotted in the

Demilitarized Zone A demilitarized zone (DMZ or DZ) is an area in which treaties or agreements between nations, military powers or contending groups forbid military installations, activities, or personnel. A DZ often lies along an established frontier or bounda ...

. Today, it only exists in North Korea. Probably fewer than 50 birds exist in the provinces of Kangwŏn-do and

North Hwanghae North Hwanghae Province (Hwanghaebuk-to; , lit. "north Yellow Sea province") is a province of North Korea. The province was formed in 1954 when the former Hwanghae Province was split into North and South Hwanghae. The provincial capital is S ...

, in particular in the remaining forests of Rinsan, Phyongsan, Jangphung, Pakyon, and

Kaesong Kaesong (, ) is a special city in the southern part of North Korea (formerly in North Hwanghae Province), and the capital of Korea during the Taebong kingdom and subsequent Goryeo dynasty. The city is near the Kaesong Industrial Region close t ...

around the area of Myŏraksan. On May 30, 1968, it was proclaimed as National Monument No. 197 and therefore it enjoyed the special protection of the government. It is listed in Appendix I CITES, but there is no special entry for this subspecies in the IUCN Red List. In July 2017, South Korean authorities declared the extinction of Tristram's woodpecker in South Korea."사라진 크낙새…물방개도 멸종 위기" KBS뉴스. 2017.07.27
/ref> Hence, only in the DPRK does Tristram's woodpecker still exist.

References

* Greenway, James Cowan (1967): Extinct and Vanishing Birds of the World, Dover Publ., New York * Austin, Oliver L. and Koruda, Nagahisa (1953): ''The Birds of Japan'' In: Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College. Volume 109. Cambridge, Mass. :The Museum, p. 488-489

External links

Designated Species of Wildlife
(Engl.)
White-bellied black woodpecker, Korean endemic species
(Engl.) Tristram's woodpecker Birds of Korea Tristram's woodpecker Taxa named by Henry Baker Tristram {{woodpecker-stub