Appearance:

Pied, medium sized woodpecker with strong bill, and diagnostic elongated white shoulder patches (scapulars). Vent always red. Male with red hindneck, female shows no read on head. Juveniles with whole crown red, barred scapulars and pinkish vent. Differs from Syrian- and Middle Spotted Woodpecker in long moustache stripe connecting to both black nape and base of bill. Flight strongly undulated with alternating burst of wing-beats and glides with closed wings.

Sound:

It's frequent drumming is easily recognized by its short duration. Typically it lasts 0.5 seconds, sometimes slightly longer. Contact call frequently hear throughout the year. A short hiccup "kek", sometimes in series. When excited this may escalate into a trill.

Contact call, alarm call, drumming:

Distribution:

Wikipedia: map (se also Xeno-canto below)

Ecology:

Birdlife ecology

Links:

Observation.org Latest observations

Video IBC

Image search Flickr NB! May give other species

Sound search at Xeno-canto

Featherbase

CC

Appearance:

Medium sized, green woodpecker with black mask. Crown red in all plumages. Females with black moustache stripe, males with red framed in black. Juveniles heavily marked with small black and white spots all over, and less prominent black mask. Bigger and more heavily built than Grey-headed Woodpecker, with longer and stouter bill. Often foraging on the ground. Flight undulated.

Sound:

Song similar to Grey-headed Woodpecker, but not as soft and fluty. Each phrase consist of a series of short "klee", with a laughing quality. Pitch drops slightly throughout the phrase, but not as markedly as in Grey-headed, and tempo is fairly constant (no ritardando). Short "kek" calls when excited and in flight. Drumming of 1.5 seconds duration with decelerating tempo, but not often heard. Another call is similar to Black Woodpecker; a series of resonant "klit-klit-klit-klit-klit-klit", but is less clear, has a more determined start and has less obvious rising pitch at the end of each syllable.

Song:

Distribution:

Wikipedia: map (se also Xeno-canto below)

Ecology:

Birdlife ecology

Links:

Observation.org Latest observations

Video IBC

Image search Flickr NB! May give other species

Sound search at Xeno-canto

Featherbase

CC