Speckle-throated woodpecker

The speckle-throated woodpecker (Campethera scriptoricauda), also known as Reichenow's woodpecker, is an East African woodpecker often considered a subspecies of Bennett's woodpecker.[2] The bird is named after the German ornithologist Anton Reichenow.[3]

Speckle-throated woodpecker

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Piciformes
Family: Picidae
Genus: Campethera
Species:
C. scriptoricauda
Binomial name
Campethera scriptoricauda
(Reichenow, 1896)

Description

It is greenish above with yellowish barring (giving a slightly yellower appearance than the similar Nubian woodpecker) and pale yellowish below with black speckles. The speckles continue forward through the throat, the main point of distinction from both the Nubian and Bennett's woodpeckers.[4] The bill is pale, depicted as yellow[2] or off-white.[4]

Among its calls in Tanzania are "wi-wi-wi-wi-wi and a short churr."[2] At least in Mozambique, it is probably vocally indistinguishable from Bennett's woodpecker.[4]

Distribution and habitat

It lives in open woodland in Mozambique[5] between Beira and the lower Zambezi river,[4] in central and southeastern Malawi, and in eastern and central Tanzania[5] north to Handeni as well as in the North Pare Mountains and around Mount Kilimanjaro.[2] Formerly it was also found around Mombasa, Kenya. It inhabits open woodlands.[5] At least in Mozambique, it prefers broad-leaved woodland with an understory of tall grass, and it is probably rather common.[4]

Taxonomy

This bird has been considered a subspecies of the Nubian woodpecker.[2] On the other hand, some authorities lump it with Bennett's woodpecker,[6] Zimmerman et al. because "it is said to intergrade freely with nominate bennettii in Malawi"[2] Here it is considered a separate species following the Handbook of the Birds of the World[7] and other authorities.[5][8]

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References
  1. Birdlife International (2014). "Camprthera scriptoricauda". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2014. Retrieved 9 January 2015.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  2. Zimmerman, Dale A.; Turner, Donald A. & Pearson, David J. (1999), Birds of Kenya and Northern Tanzania, Field Guide Edition, Princeton University Press, pp. 150–151, 408–4095, ISBN 0-691-01022-6
  3. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael (2003). Whose Bird? Men and Women Commemorated in the Common Names of Birds. London: Christopher Helm. p. 283.
  4. Sinclair, Ian; Hockey, Phil & Tarboton, Warwick (2002), Birds of Southern Africa, Princeton University Press, pp. 278–279, ISBN 0-691-09682-1, retrieved 2007-08-04
  5. Lack, Peter (2006). "ABC African Checklist (passerines)". African Bird Club. Archived from the original (doc) on 2007-02-21. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
  6. BirdLife International 2007, 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, retrieved 2007-10-13 , citing Dowsett, R. J.; Forbes-Watson, A. D. (1993), Checklist of Birds of the Afrotropical and Malagasy Regions. Volume 1: Species limits and distribution, Tauraco Press
  7. del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J. (2002), Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 7: Jacamars To Woodpeckers, Barcelona: Lynx Edicions, ISBN 84-87334-15-6
  8. Clements, James F. (2007), The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World (Sixth ed.), Cornell University Press, ISBN 978-0-8014-4501-9, according to Lepage, Denis (2003–2007), Avibase - the world bird database, retrieved 2007-10-13
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