Alternative name: Spotted Piculet (more commonly used for Picumnus pygmaeus from Brazil)
- Picumnus innominatus
Identification
10cm. A tiny woodpecker.
- Golden-olive upperparts
- Dark mask and moustache
- White underparts with broad spots
- Male with an orange patch on forecrown
- Female with entirely green crown
- Voice - a sharp tsik
Juveniles similar to females but duller.
Distribution
From northeast Afghanistan east in the Himalayas to northern Pakistan, India (also in peninsular India), Nepal, Bhutan and to Tibet, China, Burma and south to Indochina, Malaysia, Sumatra and northern Borneo.
Common or fairly common in most of its range.
Taxonomy
Three subspecies are recognized:
- P. i. chinensis in central, east and southern China
- P. i. malayorum from peninsular India east to southwest China, Indochina, Sumatra and Borneo
- P. i. innominatus along the Himalayas from Afghanistan to Assam
Seems to be closely related to the other species in this genus which all occur in South America.
Habitat
Decidious forest and evergreen tropical montane forest. Also in second growth where bamboo is present.
Mostly in foothills and lower hills, occasionally higher.
Behaviour
Diet
Feeds on insects and their larvae, especially ants.
Usually solitary or in pairs, frequenting the middle storey, often with the vicinity of bamboo. Often in bird waves.
Breeding
Breeding season from January to May. The nest hole is excavated in a dead branch or in a dead tree. Lays 2 - 4 eggs.
A resident species.
Vocalisation
Drums softly.
Recording by china guy, NE Sichuan, April 2012
Drumming on cultivated bamboo. There were two birds. You can faintly hear the other bird giving a trill. Other calls in there are Eurasian Jay and Sulphur-breasted Warbler.
References
- Clements, JF. 2011. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to August 2011. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
- Del Hoyo, J, A Elliot, and J Sargatal, eds. 2002. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 7: Jacamars to Woodpeckers. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8487334375
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Speckled Piculet. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 27 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Speckled_Piculet
