senandsouza's Identifications

The White Naped Woodpecker, Male
I earlier mistook it to be a Black-Rumped Flameback
Try Viewing it in Full Screen
@ Coonoor, Nilgiris Dist
Tamil Nadu, India
10 July 2022

I had clicked one photo of a woodpecker a few weeks back and ignored it thinking it took it to be a The Black-Rumped Flameback (Dinopium benghalense), also known as the Lesser Golden-Backed Woodpecker. When I reviewed it at home on my laptop found it to be somewhat different and was confused.

I took help from Ragoo Rao Sir who identified and clarified it to be a White Naped Woodpecker, Male.
I went back to the same location thrice and finally got it last Sunday in a good frame.... looking for the Female now.

About the Bird - An un-common, four-toed, large-billed, golden-backed woodpecker that is endemic to the Indian Subcontinent. Associated with open wooded habitat all over its range, but often difficult to find. Separated from the group of “small-billed” Flamebacks by its much larger bill, a conspicuous white nape with a contrasting black border, and a divided black horizontal stripe below the cheek. Separated from the similarly large-billed Greater Flameback by its black rump, clean white nape, and preference for drier habitat. Often detected by its uniform trill.

The White Naped Woodpeckers are large woodpeckers that average 29 cm in length (including the tail). They have straight pointed bills and a stiff tail that provides support against tree trunks as they move up and down.

The adult male White Naped Woodpecker has white forehead spotted brown, red crown and crest narrowly bordered black, broad white supercilium back to side of nape and sometimes meeting white of hindneck, broad black band through ear-coverts and down side of neck to side of upper breast, bordered below by white stripe from lores; white malar area enclosed by two thin black lines; white chin and throat with narrow black central line; white hindneck and mantle, black scapulars and back to upper-tail-coverts, rump occasionally showing some yellowish feather edges; wing-coverts mostly olive-green with golden-yellow suffusion, golden tips and edges (occasionally tinged red); flight-feathers brownish black, olive-yellow outer webs of secondaries and tertials, white spots on (usually) both webs; upper-tail black; underparts white, black throat stripe breaking into streaks on foreneck and breast, narrower streaks on lower underparts; under¬tail-coverts often more barred; underwing dark grey, spotted white; very long bill almost straight, chisel-tipped, broad across nostrils, blackish; iris red to orange; legs green-grey. (citation and credit birdsoftheworld.org)

The Female has crown and crest that is yellow, usually some brown at front and side. Juvenile as adult but duller, black areas browner, can show some red in rump, eyes brown, male has yellow crown with orange-red tips, female crown as adult but some orange in nape area. Mature males can easily be identified by their red crowns, which is yellow in females.

Juveniles resemble adult females, except for a duller plumage.
They have zygodactyl or “yoked" feet, with two toes pointing forward, and two backward. Their long tongue is well adapted for darting forward to capture insects in crevices. The call is a laughing rattle “kwirri-rr-rr-rr-rr” “kwirri-rr-rr-rr-rr”.