Medium-sized green woodpecker with delicate scale-like patterning on the underparts. Sexes differ primarily in crown color; male’s is red, female’s is black. Very similar in appearance to Streak-throated and Laced Woodpeckers; note this species’ combination of unpatterned yellow throat, patchy-looking “mustache” stripe, and well-marked breast. Habitat preferences also differ; Streak-breasted favors lowland evergreen broadleaf forests, as well as coastal scrub forest and mangroves. Like other similar “Asian green woodpeckers”, frequently forages close to, or on, the ground. Gives a harsh, resonant “tchik, tchik”, often in series, as well as an explosive rattling.