Grey-Capped Woodpecker Picoides/Dendrocopos canicapillus (Blyth) 1845


Grey-Capped Woodpecker Picoides/Dendrocopos canicapillus (Blyth) 1845
Other Name: Gray Headed Pygmy Woodpecker, Grey Crowned Pygmy.
Resident

Status and distribution
Resident uncommon distributed south to Johore. Less common then Sunday Pygmy Woodpecker

Description


Gray Capped Woodpecker
Brown capped Woodpecker
Other name
see above
Sunda woodpecker, Malaysia Woodpecker
Upperpart
Black, wings, lower back and rumped black broadly barred with white
Browner with white barred
Generally sooty compared to black of Gray Capped
Underpart
Lack of red on streaked brownish buff to black
Belly buffish-orange
Dirty white below with brown streak
Tail
Central tail feather lack of white bar
Central tail feather always white barred
Rump and upper tail covert white
Head
Crown gray, malar stripe usually faint or lacking.
Broad dark patch on ear covert
Brown crown, white unmarked throat, broad distinct malar stripe
Sex
Male: Small red streak on side of hind crown
Female: Average slightly larger than male. Red of male’s crown sides and naped replace by black

Male: Red streak behind eye
Female: Slightly larger than male. Lack of red on hindcrown

Bare part: Bill grey to blackish, paler at base and on lower mandible. Greyish to olive grey feet and leg. Orbital skin slaty.

Confusion Species
See description

Geographical Variation
According to Well’s 1990 subspecies auratus Eyton 1845 was recorded. However the subspecies may not be confidently separated in field.

Behaviour
At least in this part of the P.Malaysia mostly were seen in pair.  Otherwise poorly documented. Diet poorly documented.

Habitat
Park and garden. Housing area which is wooded. Separated in habitat from Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker where the latter are found in mangrove <= => Grey Capped Woodpecker absent in mangrove. Plantation, secondary growth and coastal woodland (casuarina).

Have been recorded up to 1830m asl in other part of the world
Note: Overlap with Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker especially in park area.

Breeding
Very similar to Sunda Pygmy where nested in rotten-tip wood. Breeding begin in February - September. No recent record on this species nesting in recent years and poorly documented overall.

Photo


Reference
Ben F.King & Edwards C.Dickson, 1989, A Field Guide To The Birds of South-East Asia, Collins, Grafton Street, London

Boonsong Lekagul & Philip D.Round, 1991, A guide to the Birds of Thailand, Saha Karn Bhaet Co., Ltd Bangkok

David R Wells, 1999, Birds of The Thai Malay Peninsula,Academic Press, London UK

Hans Winkler, David A. Christie & David Nurney, 1995, Woodpecker An Identification Guide to the Woodpecker of the World, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston New York

James A. Eaton, Bas van Balen, Nick W. Brickle & Frank E. Rheindt, 2016,  Birds of the Indonesia Archipelago Greater Sundas and Wallacea, Lynx Edicion, Bercelona

Salim Ali & S. Dillon Ripley, 2001,  Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan Volume 4 Frogmouth to Pittas,Oxford University Press , New Delhi


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