Golden-tailed Woodpecker

Campethera abingoni

Woodland. Male with red cap and moustachial streak; female with red nape only; streaked black below.

Woodpeckers

Not Endemic

Description

Common resident. Has streaks on breast but is larger than [Cardinal Woodpecker]. Male has red malar streak and entire crown is red with black spots. Female has black crown with white spots, only the nape being red. The call is a distinctive, single nasal ‘waaa’. Pairs occur in broad-leaved woodland, thornveld and bush fringing dry river beds.

Quick Facts

Bird Family

Small, robust birds with straight, pointed bills, stiff tails and zygodactylous feet (the inner and outer toes are directed backward and the two central toes forward). They glean insects and their larvae from within crevices in trees and from beneath bark by tapping with their bills to loosen or chip the wood and inserting their long sticky tongues. While feeding, they use the tail as a prop. They normally occur in pairs and excavate holes in trees for nesting, these frequently being used in turn by other hole-nesting species. Many woodpeckers are very similar in appearance. They are best identified by head and breast markings plus call. The aberrant Ground Woodpecker is entirely terrestrial and nests in holes in banks.