Sunda pygmy woodpecker

Sunda pygmy woodpecker
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Piciformes
Family:	Picidae
Genus:	Yungipicus
Species:	Y. moluccensis
Binomial name
Yungipicus moluccensis (Gmelin, 1788)
Synonyms
Picoides moluccensis Dendrocopos moluccensis

The Sunda pygmy woodpecker (Yungipicus moluccensis), also known as the Sunda woodpecker, is a species of bird in the Picidae family. It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.

Description

It is a small sized woodpecker (Size range: 11.5-12.5 cm). Greyish brown capped head; ear covers dark brown with two rather broad whitish grey bands narrowing towards neck. Upper parts greyish brown with white wings tipped with white thus appearing striped. Tail short and blakish with white bands. Lores and throat white leading into dirty white underparts. Upper breast streaked with brown reducing towards vent. Whitish underwing coverts with pale brown. Sexes dimorphic. Males have a reddish orange crown which is absent in females.^[2]

Adult Sunda woodpecker

Distribution

Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical mangrove forests, and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.^[3]

Ecology and Natural History

A common visitor to urban areas and forests in Singapore. Often found singly or in pairs rapidly moving up trees. Found from ground right up into the topmost branches of trees on dead branches.^[2]

References

1. BirdLife International (2012). "Dendrocopos moluccensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
2. http://singaporebirds.net/npassers_01/sunda_pygmy_woodpecker.html
3. Robson, Craig, and Richard Allen. New Holland field guide to the birds of South-East Asia. New Holland Publishers, 2005.