Brown-eared Woodpecker (Pardipicus caroli) | Photos and ID

LCLeast ConcernInvertebrates

Forest

Brown-eared Woodpecker (Pardipicus caroli), photo 1 — Photo: Scott Loarie · CC0

ID tip

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 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.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Brown-eared Woodpecker

One bar for each month, and every month is filled: this bird is recorded here in all twelve. The wide bar is July, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Brown-eared Woodpecker

Regular rangeRare visitor

The map shades 15 countries with regular records, and 1 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

Uganda Kenya Ghana Côte d’Ivoire Equatorial Guinea Gabon Congo - Kinshasa Angola Cameroon Congo - Brazzaville Zambia Sierra Leone Central African Republic Liberia Guinea

Recorded as a rare visitor in Nigeria.

About the Brown-eared Woodpecker

The brown-eared woodpecker 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, 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 has rated its conservation status as being of "least concern".

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Buff-spotted WoodpeckerPardipicus nivosusThe buff-spotted woodpecker is a small species growing to a length of about 15 cm (6 in).

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