Necklaced woodpecker


The necklaced woodpecker is a small species of woodpecker in the genus Dryobates. It is found in Bangladesh, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.

Description

The necklaced woodpecker is a fairly small, stout, black-and-white woodpecker with buffy underparts. Males have a fiery orange neck patch, a crimson red crown, a muted orange vent, and a red breast patch bordered with a black stripe. Females are duller, though they can sometimes have a pale orange neck and breast patch. The species resembles a miniature Darjeeling woodpecker or great spotted woodpecker, though it is not closely related to any of them, belonging to a different genus.

Taxonomy

It was previously considered conspecific with the crimson-naped woodpecker. While the two have various amounts of red on head and breast and other distinguishing features, including size.
There are three subspecies; D. p. tenebrosus from north and east Myanmar to north Laos, north west Vietnam and south China, D. p. pernyii from central China, D. p. innixus from north-central and east-central China.