Appearance:

Very small, almost sparrow-sized, woodpecker. Most likely to be confused with Great Spotted Woodpecker, but vent never red (always in Great Spotted). Back heavily barred, and underparts streaked. No large patches of white on upperparts. Male with red crown, female purely black and white. Bill small and slender. More likely to be seen foraging in branches than most other woodpeckers. Fluttering flight.

Sound:

Frequently drums in quite long series. Much longer than Great Spotted, and without ritardando. Most common call a series of merlin-like "ke-ke-ke-ke-ke-ke" given at fairly stable pitch, and less hoarse than Merlin. Differs from Wryneck in lacking marked rise and fall in pitch, and being less plaintive.

Drumming, song:

Distribution:

Xeno-canto: map

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

CC-photo:Stefan Berndtsson, Licence,Link, CC-photo:Maggi_94, Licence,Link,

CC-photo:phenolog, Licence,Link,

Appearance:

Pinkish red (male) or greyish brown (female) underparts, and slate grey upperparts. Bill short and deep. Hood, tail, wings, bill and base of bill shiny black. Pure white rump and vent, together with white wing-bars prominent in flight. Wings and tail relatively long. Juveniles lacks black hood. Flight strongly undulated. Not so hurried as other finches when foraging.

Sound:

Contact call a soft, full-bodied, descending, pure whistle; "peeuu". Song a quiet, modest mix of contact call and various chirping sounds, with peculiar harmonics.

Contact call, song:

Distribution:

Xeno-canto: map

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