White-bellied woodpecker

White-bellied woodpecker
	White-bellied woodpecker (male) ( D. j. Hodgsonii )
Systematics
Class :	Birds (aves)
Order :	Woodpecker birds (Piciformes)
Family :	Woodpeckers (Picidae)
Genre :	Dryocopus
Type :	White-bellied woodpecker
Scientific name
	Dryocopus javensis
	( Horsfield , 1821)

The white- bellied woodpecker or white-bellied black woodpecker ( Dryocopus javensis ) is a species of bird from the family of woodpeckers (Picidae). This very large species of woodpecker is widespread with numerous disjoint occurrences in large parts of South and Southeast Asia. It inhabits a wide range of forest communities with older trees, including evergreen and deciduous primeval forests, secondary forests and mangroves with large trees and even pine forests. The food consists of large ants and their brood, termites , beetles and their larvae and other insects and fruits.

The species is generally considered to be only locally occurring and not very common. The population is presumably in decline, but the speed of this decline is not yet considered to be sufficient to classify the species as endangered. Since the population should also be comparatively large, the white-bellied woodpecker is still classified by the IUCN as safe (“least concern”). In the case of some subspecies with small and disjoint areas, however, the population situation is considerably worse.

description

The white-bellied woodpecker is a typical representative of the genus Dryocopus and is similar in habit and color to the black woodpecker, which is also native to Central Europe . White-bellied woodpeckers are very large and contrastingly colored woodpeckers with a long and stiff tail that is bent forward towards the tip and a pronounced feather hood. The beak is long, chisel-shaped and pointed and broad at the base. The nostrils are feathered. The body length is 40–48 cm and the weight 197–347 g; the species is thus somewhat smaller and lighter than the black woodpecker.

The species shows a clear sexual dimorphism in terms of coloration . In males of the nominate form Dryocopus j. javensis , the entire upper surface of the trunk including the upper tail-coverts, the upper wings and the upper tail are black. The wings of the hand show a small cream-white spot on the inner flag , in the fresh plumage they also have white tips. The chest is also black. The belly is creamy white, flanks and lower abdomen are usually banded in black for this reason. The under tail-coverts are black. The wings are gray-black underneath; the under wing-coverts creamy white. In Metacarpusbereich a black spot is formed. The under tail is grayish.

The forehead, the top of the head, the bonnet and the rather broad stripe of beard are deep red; Ear covers, sides of the neck, chin and throat spotted or dashed white on a black background. The head and neck are otherwise black.

The upper bill is blackish to greyish-black, the lower bill gray, occasionally pale horn-colored or greenish-yellow. Legs and toes are dark gray or bluish gray. The iris is yellow, the eye ring is gray.

In the females, the red color is limited to the back of the skull and the hood. Like the ear covers, the beard stripe shows white dots on a black background.

Female white-bellied woodpecker, possibly nominate form D. j. javensis

Vocalizations

The most frequent call is a single, loud and explosive "kijow, kjah, kiauk" or "keer" , which is uttered both in flight and when landing or from a control room. The area call is a long series of calls, lasting up to more than 5 seconds and also made in flight and from waiting, such as "kek-ek-ek-ek-ek" or "kiau kiau kiau" . The couple mutually call softly "chi-wi, chi-wi" . The drum rolls are loud and increasing in frequency; at least in the beginning they are slower than the closely related black woodpecker. A drum roll lasts less than 2 seconds, about three times per minute.

distribution and habitat

This species of woodpecker is widespread with numerous disjoint occurrences in large parts of South and Southeast Asia including numerous islands. The distribution area extends in a west-east direction from the west of India (geographically isolated there) to the Philippines and - geographically also widely isolated - to Korea and earlier also to Japan. In a north-south direction, the area extends relatively contiguously from the southwest of Sichuan and the northwest and south of Yunnan in China to Java and Bali . The size of the total distribution area is not exactly known.

The white-bellied woodpecker inhabits a wide range of forest communities with older trees, including evergreen and deciduous primeval forests, light secondary forests with large trees and old mangroves through to pine forests. Moist primeval forests with numerous dead and dying trees are clearly preferred, but the species also occurs regularly in forests from which trees have been selectively removed or which are severely disturbed.

In most of the Southeast Asian mainland and on the Great Sunda Islands , white-bellied woodpeckers are more restricted to the lowlands and usually stay below 1000 m altitude. In the northeast of Myanmar , in the northwest of Tonkin as well as in Yunnan, however, the species inhabits the hills and mountains between 1400 and 3600 m altitude. In the Philippines, white-bellied woodpeckers are widespread at altitudes between 140 and 1200 m, on Luzon also up to 2500 m.

Systematics

Numerous subspecies have been described in the large distribution area, Winkler et al. recognize 14 subspecies, 8 of which are endemic to the Philippines. The subspecies are listed here roughly according to their distribution from west to east:

D. j. richardsi , male

D. j. javensis ( Horsfield 1821) - Largest part of the southern range; Southern Thailand and mainland Malay as well as Sumatra , Nias , Java , Bali and Borneo including the surrounding islands. The nominate form is described above. Large compared to other subspecies, especially deep red head, black rump and a little white on the wings. The population on Nias shows a tendency towards a weaker flank banding.
D. j. parvus ( Richmond , 1902) - Endemic to Simeulue . Smallest subspecies, much smaller than nominate form. The rump is also black and the head is deep red. A beige banding is indicated on the ear covers, throat and chest, the beak is a single dark color.
D. j. feddeni ( Blyth , 1863) - Most of Thailand, Myanmar, and Indochina . Slightly smaller than the nominate shape, rump white, head parts orange-red, white bases of the hand wings very extensive and mostly also white tips of the hand wings. Beak color as with nominate shape.
D. j. forresti Rothschild , 1922 - mountainous region in northern Myanmar and neighboring southwestern China. Similar to the previous subspecies, but much larger, tail proportionally shorter, white hand-wing bases less extended, throat almost monochrome black with only a few white spots.
D. j. hodgsonii ( Jerdon , 1840) - India. Very similar to nominate form, but rump white, beak much larger and monochrome blackish, wings and tail proportionally shorter.
D. j. richardsi Tristram , 1879 - 2017 the extinction of this subspecies was reported after the remaining specimenshad also disappearedfrom the last refuges in the south of North Korea . Similar to D. j. forresti , but even larger and with a much longer beak, white hand-wing bases more extensive, beard stripes in the male somewhat narrower. Females differ strongly from all other subspecies with a monochrome black head without red parts.

The following 8 subspecies are each restricted to different parts of the Philippines:

D. j. hargitti ( Sharpe , 1884) - Palawan . Similar to the nominate shape, but the rump is broadly white, the upper part of the head is more orange-red, the beard is wider, the flanks and lower part of the body are black, the leg fletching is lighter. The lower beak is pale greenish-yellow or horn-colored at the base.

D. j. mindorensis ( Steere , 1890) - Mindoro . Like the previous subspecies, but much smaller, the rump is less extensive and white, mostly with white wingtips. Bill monochrome blackish.

D. j. suluensis ( W. Blasius , 1890) - Sulu Archipelago . Small, whitening on the rump usually missing or only very small. Lower mandible mostly light.

D. j. confusus ( Stresemann , 1913) - Luzon . Similar to D. j. mindorensis , but beak longer, whitening on rump mostly absent or only very small, with male beard stripes somewhat more extensive and upper head sometimes deeper red. Occasionally black throat with only a few white spots and light lower beak. The population in the north of Luzon is described by some authors as a separate subspecies D. j. esthloterus ( Parkes , 1971) .

D. j. philippinensis (Steere, 1890) - Panay , Negros , Masbate and Guimaras . Larger than the previous three subspecies. The rump is narrow white, the lower beak is light, the throat is occasionally black with only a few white spots. In the male, the red markings on the side of the head are extended to the throat and the fore-eye area, and occasionally to the ear covers.

D. j. multilunatus ( McGregor , 1907) - Basilan , Mindanao . Similar to the previous subspecies, but mostly missing white on the rump, sides of the neck and ear covers with strong white dots and chest with beige banding, mostly white tips of the hand wings.

D. j. cebuensis Kennedy , 1987 - Cebu , probably extinct. Similar to the previous subspecies, but smaller and more short-beaked, beak almost monochrome black. White spot on the lower back. Throat and chest less conspicuously drawn than in the following subspecies.

D. j. pectoralis ( Tweeddale , 1878) - Leyte , Samar , Panaon , Calicoan and Bohol . Similar to D. j. multilunatus , but throat and ear- coverts dashed black on a white background, entire breast irregularly lightly banded and dashed, flanks more strongly banded. Some individuals show some spots on the belly and occasionally the rump shows some white.

Way of life

White-bellied woodpeckers are usually found singly, although pairs are likely to keep loose contact. Family groups of four to six birds are also occasionally observed. The foraging takes place in all tree layers, occasionally also on the ground. The species looks for large trees as well as small tree stumps or trunks lying on the ground; Large trees 50 to 200 m away from the nearest tree population are also approached. Primarily dead trees or dead parts of living trees are used for foraging.

The food consists of large ants and their brood, termites , beetles and their larvae and other insects and fruits. Food objects are obtained primarily by hammering and chopping and then probing, with the species making large, up to 20 cm long and 8 cm deep holes in the wood. These woodpeckers also regularly chop off bark from dead trunks and branches. White-bellied woodpeckers can forage in a single spot for up to an hour.

The breeding season is different depending on the distribution area. In the Western Ghats of India, the breeding season extends from December to May, and fledgling young birds were observed in March at the earliest. Brooding white-bellied woodpeckers have been observed in Myanmar between February and May, in Korea from early March to early May, in Malaysia from December to March and in the Great Sunda Islands in April and May as well as August and September. The caves are created by both sexes at heights between 8 and 16 m in large tree stumps, large old or half-dead trees. In the Western Ghats there were 11 caves at heights between 8.5 and 15.2 m, with an average height of 11.7 m. Of these 11 caves, 7 were made in the trunks of dead trees, 2 in dead main branches of living trees and 1 each in the trunk or in a main branch of a living tree. The clutch consists of two eggs, in the north of the distribution area also of three to four, which are incubated by both parents for 14 days. The young birds are fed with choked food and fly out after about 26 days.

Existence and endangerment

There is no information on the size of the world population. The population is presumably in decline, but the speed of this decline is not yet considered to be sufficient to classify the species as endangered. Since the population should also be comparatively large, the white-bellied woodpecker is still classified by the IUCN as safe ("least concern").

In the case of some subspecies with small and disjoint areas, however, the population situation is considerably worse. The subspecies D. j. cebuensis is endemic to Cebu , only known from three specimens collected before 1900 and is probably extinct, as there is only a single, less than 2 km² forest area on Cebu. From the subspecies D. j. richardsi exist less than 80 specimens in southern North Korea and in the demilitarized zone, in Japan the subspecies is extinct.

swell

Individual evidence

↑ The white-bellied woodpecker at BirdLife International
↑ Hans Winkler, David A. Christie and David Nurney: Woodpeckers. A Guide to the Woodpeckers, Piculets, and Wrynecks of the World. Pica Press, Robertsbridge 1995: p. 342
↑ V. Santharam: A survey of the Indian Great Black Woodpecker (Dryocopus javensis) and its habitat in the Western Ghats, India. Forktail 19, 2003: pp. 31-38, here p. 34
↑ V. Santharam: A survey of the Indian Great Black Woodpecker (Dryocopus javensis) and its habitat in the Western Ghats, India. Forktail 19, 2003: pp. 31-38, here pp. 34-35
↑ Guy CL Dutson, Perla M. Magsalay & Rob J. Timmins: The rediscovery of the Cebu Flowerpecker Dicaeum quadricolor, with notes on other forest birds on Cebu, Philippines. Bird Conservation International 1993, Issue 3: pp. 235–243 ( abstract online, PDF available there )

literature

V. Santharam: A survey of the Indian Great Black Woodpecker (Dryocopus javensis) and it's habitat in the Western Ghats , India. Forktail 19, 2003: pp. 31–38 Online as PDF
Hans Winkler , David Christie and David Nurney: Woodpeckers. A Guide to the Woodpeckers, Piculets, and Wrynecks of the World. Pica Press, Robertsbridge 1995, ISBN 0-395-72043-5 , pp. 134-135 and 341-343.

Web links

Dryocopus javensis in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2011. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2009. Retrieved on 4 July 2011th