Rufous Woodpecker Micropternus brachyurus Scientific name definitions

c. 25 cm; 55–84 g (badius, badiosus), 82–107 g (jerdonii), 92–114 g (phaioceps). Male has dark brown forehead to nape and short crest, broad red feather tips beneath eye back to front of ear-coverts, dark throat with buff feather tips; rest of head and body plumage dark rufous to chestnut, upper­parts very narrowly barred black, flanks to undertail-coverts with widely spaced thin black bars, belly sometimes with thin broken bars; wings similar to upperparts; tail also narrowly dark-barred, broader black tips; underwing rufous, barred black; short bill, culmen slightly curved, rather narrow-based, dark grey, blacker tip; iris reddish to brown, narrow orbital skin grey; legs blue-grey or bluish-green to brown. Female lacks red on side of head. Juvenile as adult, variably barred, often less heavily, or sometimes with bars extending to breast. Races highly variable, including individually, in ground colour of plumage, some much paler than others: humei is large, pale, with greyish head, streaked throat; jerdonii is smaller and more rufous than previous, with paler head, scaly throat markings; phaioceps is large, rather dark rufous, with brownish head; badius is fairly small, generally much paler than previous, with heavily streaked throat, belly strongly barred with arrowheads (barring less extensive in Sumatran population); badiosus has long bill, contrasting black tail narrowly barred rufous, unbarred back, little or no barring on belly, throat feathers black-based with chestnut tips and buff edges; fokiensis is distinctive, with creamy head streaked black on crown, heavily black-streaked throat, broad black bars above, sooty-brown and little streaked below, greyer or browner breast, proportionately longest tail; annamensis resembles previous, but slightly smaller, head darker; holroydi is smaller than previous, very dark chestnut all over, with narrow bars above, throat streaked brown, flanks barred black.

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Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Highly vocal: series of three nasal “kweep” or “keenk” notes delivered in less than 1 second (sometimes pause before final note), reminiscent of calls of Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis); in encounters 4–5 “kweek” notes, some perhaps similar to variable “whi-chi” in same context; slightly falling accelerating series c. 2 seconds long of up to 16 notes, may be repeated several times, probably as territorial announcement and contact between pair-members. Drumming highly distinctive, single roll 1·5–5 seconds long, slows gradually to halt like stalling motorcycle engine, “bdddd-d-d-d—dt”, rolls 2–3 minutes apart, delivered commonly, often on bamboo, by both sexes.

Apr–Jun in Nepal, Sikkim and N Myanmar, Feb–Jun in S India and Sri Lanka, Jan–Apr in Thailand and Malaysia, May–Jun in Sumatra, and in Apr and Sept in Java. Displays include tail-spreading, head-swinging and body-swinging. Nest-hole, dug by both sexes, is often in active arboreal nest of ants, mostly of genus Crematogaster but sometimes others (e.g. Plagiolepis), usually high up on tree trunk, including casuarinas and palms, occasionally lower (c. 3 m) around fork in sapling; less often, hole excavated in tree or stub. Clutch 2–3 white eggs, up to seven recorded rarely (China), clutch size increasing S to N, size 24·4–24·6 mm × 17·9–18·2 mm; both sexes incubate, period 12–14 days; both also feed chicks, by regurgitation, fledging period not documented.