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ForestCavity nestMedium · 86 g
ID tip
The rufous woodpecker is about 25 cm long, overall dark brown with dark bands on the feathers of the wing and tail giving it a black-barred appearance. The head appears paler and underparts are of a darker shade. The bill is short and black with a slight curvature of the culmen. At the nostrils the bill is narrow. The tail is short and rufous with narrow black bars but in subspecies badiosus the tail is dark with narrow rufous bars. Feather margins are pale in squamigularis and annamensis. Feathers on the neck, ears and lore are unmarked.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
When to see the Rufous Woodpecker
One bar for each month, and every month is filled: this bird is recorded here in all twelve. The wide bar is February, the month with the most records.
Where to see the Rufous Woodpecker
The map shades 15 countries with regular records. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.
About the Rufous Woodpecker
The rufous woodpecker is a medium-sized brown woodpecker native to South and Southeast Asia. It is short-billed, foraging in pairs on small insects, particularly ants and termites, in scrub, evergreen, and deciduous forests and is noted for building its nest within the carton nests of arboreal ants in the genus Crematogaster. It was for sometime placed in the otherwise Neotropical genus Celeus but this has been shown to be a case of evolutionary convergence and molecular phylogenetic studies support its placement in the monotypic genus Micropternus.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Easily confused with
Puerto Rican WoodpeckerMelanerpes portoricensisThe Puerto Rican woodpecker has a black body and a bright red throat and breast.
Little WoodpeckerVeniliornis passerinusThe little woodpecker is about 14 to 15 cm (5.5 to 5.9 in) long and weighs 24 to 37 g (0.85 to 1.3 oz).
Olivaceous PiculetPicumnus olivaceusThe olivaceous piculet is 8.5 to 10 cm (3.3 to 3.9 in) long and weighs 10 to 15 g (0.35 to 0.53 oz).
Side by side: Puerto Rican Woodpecker vs Rufous Woodpecker · Little Woodpecker vs Rufous Woodpecker · Olivaceous Piculet vs Rufous Woodpecker
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