Appearance:

Unmistakable bird in most situations. Azure blue above, and orangy brown below. Very short tail, and large head with long and heavy bill. Often overlooked despite it's bright colours, due to small size and obscuring habitat. Often one only catches a glimpse of the light blue back, when it flies away close to the water surface in a whirring, darting motion.

Sound:

Most heard is the thin and penetrating contact call: A short "tzee", or disyllabic "tzee-tzu", with a ringing metallic quality. In excitement it is often alternated with ringing trills "tzeerrrrrrrrrr".

Contact call:

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

CC-sound:Dawid Jablonski, Licence,Link.

Appearance:

Shows no red patches in any plumages. Only woodpecker in WP with barred flanks. White stripes extends from behind eye to back and from base of bill to scapulars, but head is generally much darker than in other pied woodpeckers. Crown in male yellow, in female speckled white.

Sound:

Drumming powerful and slow, with each beat clearly distinguishable. Most similar to Black Woodpecker but not as long (1 - 1.4 seconds). Accelerated ending (just the last few beats). Contact call similar to Great Spotted, but deeper and softer. Not very vocal.

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

CC-sounds:Antero Lindholm, www.xeno-canto.org/247630.