Ground Woodpecker vs Powerful Woodpecker

Ground Woodpecker

Geocolaptes olivaceus

Medium120 gRocky

The ground woodpecker is probably the largest woodpecker in Africa, measuring 22 to 30 cm (8.7 to 11.8 in) in length and weighing around 120 g (4.2 oz) on average. The upper parts are greyish-brown with pale spotting, and the rump is red and more visible in flight. The upper sides of wings and tail are brown barred with white. The underparts are buff, flushed with pink or red. The underside of the tail is pale brown, barred with paler colour. The beak is black, long and slender, the irises pink or yellow and the legs grey.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Timothy Whitehead · CC BY 4.0

Powerful Woodpecker

Campephilus pollens

Medium273 gForest

The powerful woodpecker is about 32 cm (13 in) long. The sexes differ only on their heads: Adult males are red from their forehead to their crest; females are black there. Both sexes of the nominate subspecies have a black and white face including the throat; the white is a wide band from the lores to below the rear of the ear coverts and from there down the side of the neck. Both sexes have a black hindneck, mantle, scapulars, and upper back with narrow white stripes on either side. Their lower back and rump are white and their uppertail coverts black.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Drumming · Zamora-Chinchipe: above Río Blanco, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Dan Vickers · CC BY 4.0

Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Ground Woodpecker and Powerful Woodpecker.