Cardinal woodpecker
The cardinal woodpecker is a widespread and common resident breeder in much of sub-Saharan Africa. It occurs in a wide range of habitats, ranging from dense forest to thorn bush. It is fairly vocal and is easily identified by its call notes. The sexes are distinguishable by their head patterns.
Taxonomy
The cardinal woodpecker was formally described in 1818 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot under the binomial name Picus fuscescens. This woodpecker is now placed with 11 other sub-Saharan woodpeckers in the genus Dendropicos that was introduced by the French ornithologist, Alfred Malherbe in 1849. The word Dendropicos combines the Ancient Greek dendron meaning tree with pikos meaning woodpecker. The specific epithet fuscescens is Modern Latin for "blackish".A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2017 found that the cardinal woodpecker was sister to the speckle-breasted woodpecker.
Nine subspecies are recognized.
- D. f. lafresnayi Malherbe, 1849 – Senegal and Gambia to Nigeria
- D. f. sharpii Oustalet, 1879 – Cameroon to northern Angola
- D. f. lepidus – south Sudan to northwestern Tanzania
- D. f. hemprichii – lower elevations of Ethiopia to Somalia and Kenya
- D. f. massaicus Neumann, 1900 – middle elevations of Ethiopia to Kenya and Tanzania
- D. f. loandae Grant, CHB, 1915 – Angola to west Tanzania, Zambia, north Namibia, north Botswana, west Zimbabwe and north South Africa
- D. f. hartlaubii Malherbe, 1849 – southern Kenya to central Mozambique
- D. f. intermedius Roberts (zoologist)|Roberts], 1924 – central Mozambique to eastern South Africa
- D. f. fuscescens – southern Africa
Description
Like other woodpeckers, this species has a straight pointed bill, a stiff tail to provide support against tree trunks, and zygodactyl or "yoked" feet, with two toes pointing forward, and two backward. The long tongue can be darted forward to capture insects.This is a very small woodpecker. It measures from bill tip to tail tip, and its body shape is typical of a woodpecker. Its back plumage is dull olive in colour, and is marked with paler dots and bands. The underparts are white, heavily streaked with black, and the rump plumage is tawny. The white throat and face are separated by a conspicuous black malar stripe, and the fore crown is olive brown. As with other woodpeckers, the head pattern varies with age and sex. The male has a red hind crown and nape, the female has a dark hind crown and black nape. Juvenile males have a red hind crown and black nape. The small crest is raised when the bird is excited.