Little Spotted Woodpecker

The Little Spotted Woodpecker, also known as the Green-backed Woodpecker, is a diminutive avian adorned with a palette of nature's hues. Males boast a scarlet crown, speckled with ebony, and a vibrant red nape, while females exhibit a more subdued blackish crown, dappled with white, and share the red nape. Both sexes are cloaked in green upperparts, dappled with cream or yellow, and their underparts are a canvas of buff or white, boldly punctuated with black spots. Their flanks are adorned with black bars. The tail mirrors the green of the upperparts, with each feather's shaft tinged in brown. A white supercilium, grey eye-ring with a chestnut iris, a grey beak tipped with black, and legs and feet of grey or olive complete their striking appearance. Juveniles resemble the female but may have less red on the nape.

Identification Tips

To identify the Little Spotted Woodpecker, look for its distinctive size, approximately 16 cm in length, and its unique coloration. The male's red crown and nape are key identifiers, while the female's white-spotted blackish crown and red nape are also distinctive. The green upperparts with cream or yellow spots and the boldly spotted underparts are characteristic of both sexes.

Habitat

This species is quite adaptable, inhabiting a variety of environments including wet and dry forests, gallery and flooded forests, scrublands, savannahs, coastal woodlands, palm oil plantations, gardens, and wooded villages.

Distribution

The Little Spotted Woodpecker graces a vast expanse of tropical central Africa, from Angola to Ethiopia, and down to Mozambique. It is a bird mostly of the lowlands but can be found at elevations up to 2,100 meters.

Behaviour

These woodpeckers are often seen foraging in pairs or joining small mixed-species flocks. They exhibit a particular fondness for ants and termites, which they skillfully extract from trees.

Diet and Feeding

The diet of the Little Spotted Woodpecker is primarily composed of ants and termites, which it finds on trees during its foraging activities.

Conservation status

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed the Little Spotted Woodpecker as being of "Least Concern," indicating that, at present, there are no immediate threats to its population numbers.