Ground Woodpecker vs Variable 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

Variable Woodpecker

Celeus undatus

Medium65 gForest

The waved woodpecker is about 23 to 26 cm (9.1 to 10.2 in) long and weighs 61 to 87 g (2.2 to 3.1 oz). In the nominate subspecies C. u. undatus, both sexes' heads are light chestnut-rufous with a bushy crest; the crest is sometimes paler with black bars, and the ear coverts and the sides of the neck have black streaks. Males have a wide red band from behind the bill to the ear coverts; females lack it. Both sexes of adults have a cinnamon-buff chin and throat with black spots or bars. They have rufous-chestnut upperparts with wide black bars, though the rump is usually paler and yellower.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Feroze Omardeen · CC BY 2.0

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