Alternative name: Grey Woodpecker
- Dendropicos goertae
Chloropicus goertae
Identification
20 cm (7¾ in)
- Grey forehead
- Red hindcrown and nape, sometimes speckled with grey
- Grey plumage on rest of head
- Green upperparts
- Grey underparts
Distribution
Senegal to southern Sudan, Uganda, and Angola.
Taxonomy
Subspecies
Four subspecies recognized[1]:
- D. g. abessinicus:
- D. g. goertae:
- from southwestern Mauritania and Senegambia to South Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, western Kenya, and northwestern Tanzania
- D. g. meridionalis:
- from south Gabon to northwest Angola and south-central Democratic Republic of the Congo
- D. g. koenigi:
Habitat
A variety of woodland types; riverine, gardens, forest edges, wooded grassland and pastures
Behaviour
Diet
Their diet consists mostly of insects, such as termites and beetle larvae. They have also been observed in mangroves hunting crabs.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2017. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017, with updates to August 2017. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Gill, F and D Donsker (Eds). 2014. IOC World Bird Names (version 4.3). Available at http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved Dec 2017)
- BF Member observations
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) African Grey Woodpecker. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 25 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/African_Grey_Woodpecker
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
