Reichenow's Woodpecker

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Reichenow's Woodpecker
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Piciformes
Family: Picidae
Genus: Campethera
Species: C. scriptoricauda
Binomial name
Campethera scriptoricauda
(Reichenow, 1896)

Reichenow's Woodpecker or the Speckle-throated Woodpecker (Campethera scriptoricauda) is an East African woodpecker often considered a subspecies of Bennett's Woodpecker.[1]

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.[2] The bill is pale, depicted as yellow[1] or off-white.[2]

Among its calls in Tanzania are "wi-wi-wi-wi-wi and a short churr."[1] At least in Mozambique, it is probably vocally indistinguishable from Bennett's Woodpecker.[2]

It lives in open woodland in Mozambique[3] between Beira and the lower Zambezi river,[2] in central and southeastern Malawi, and in eastern and central Tanzania[3] north to Handeni as well as in the North Pare Mountains and around Mount Kilimanjaro.[1] Formerly it was also found around Mombasa, Kenya. It inhabits open woodlands.[3] At least in Mozambique, it prefers broad-leaved woodland with an understory of tall grass, and it is probably rather common.[2]

This bird has been considered a subspecies of the Nubian Woodpecker.[1] On the other hand, some authorities lump it with Bennett's Woodpecker[4], Zimmerman et al. because "it is said to intergrade freely with nominate bennettii in Malawi"[1] Here it is considered a separate species following the Handbook of the Birds of the World[5] and other authorities.[3][6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Zimmerman, Dale A.; Turner, Donald A.; and Pearson, David J. (1999). Birds of Kenya and Northern Tanzania, Field Guide Edition. Princeton University Press, 150–151, 408–4095. ISBN 0-691-01022-6. Retrieved on 2007-07-26. 
  2. ^ a b c d e Sinclair, Ian; Hockey, Phil; and Tarboton, Warwick (2002). Birds of Southern Africa. Princeton University Press, 278–279. ISBN 0-691-09862-1. Retrieved on 2007-08-04. 
  3. ^ a b c d Lack, Peter (2006). ABC African Checklist (passerines) (doc). African Bird Club. Retrieved on 2007-08-04.
  4. ^ BirdLife International 2007, 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, <http://www.iucnredlist.org/search/details.php/49373/all>. Retrieved on 13 October 2007 , 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 
  5. ^ 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 
  6. ^ 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, <http://www.bsc-eoc.org/avibase/species.jsp?lang=EN&id=0C9FA6CE5DE13A58&ts=1192416209578&sec=summary>. Retrieved on 13 October 2007