Speckle-throated woodpecker
{{short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| image =
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| taxon = Campethera scriptoricauda
| authority = (Reichenow, 1896)
| synonyms =
}}
The speckle-throated woodpecker (Campethera scriptoricauda), also known as Reichenow's woodpecker, is an East African woodpecker often considered a subspecies of Bennett's woodpecker.{{Citation |author1=Zimmerman, Dale A. |author2=Turner, Donald A. |author3=Pearson, David J. |name-list-style=amp | year = 1999 | title = Birds of Kenya and Northern Tanzania, Field Guide Edition | publisher = Princeton University Press | pages = 150–151, 408–4095 | isbn = 0-691-01022-6 }} The bird is named after the German ornithologist Anton Reichenow.{{cite book|last=Beolens|first=Bo|title=Whose Bird? Men and Women Commemorated in the Common Names of Birds|year=2003|publisher=Christopher Helm|location=London|page=283|author2=Watkins, Michael }}
Description
It is greenish above with yellowish barring (giving a slightly yellower appearance than the similar Nubian woodpecker) and pale yellowish below with black speckles. The speckles continue forward through the throat, the main point of distinction from both the Nubian and Bennett's woodpeckers.{{Citation |author1=Sinclair, Ian |author2=Hockey, Phil |author3=Tarboton, Warwick |name-list-style=amp | year = 2002 | title = Birds of Southern Africa | publisher = Princeton University Press | pages = 278–279 | isbn = 0-691-09682-1 | url = https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0691096821 | access-date = 2007-08-04}} The bill is pale, depicted as yellow or off-white.
Among its calls in Tanzania are "wi-wi-wi-wi-wi and a short churr." At least in Mozambique, it is probably vocally indistinguishable from Bennett's woodpecker.
Distribution and habitat
It lives in open woodland in Mozambique{{cite web | title = ABC African Checklist (passerines) | year = 2006 | last = Lack | first = Peter | publisher = African Bird Club | url = http://www.africanbirdclub.org/resources/passerines_2006.doc | format = doc | access-date = 2007-08-04 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070221180056/http://www.africanbirdclub.org/resources/passerines_2006.doc | archive-date = 2007-02-21 | url-status = dead | df = }} between Beira and the lower Zambezi river, in central and southeastern Malawi, and in eastern and central Tanzania north to Handeni as well as in the North Pare Mountains and around Mount Kilimanjaro. Formerly it was also found around Mombasa, Kenya. It inhabits open woodlands. At least in Mozambique, it prefers broad-leaved woodland with an understory of tall grass, and it is probably rather common.
Taxonomy
This bird has been considered a subspecies of the Nubian woodpecker. On the other hand, some authorities lump it with Bennett's woodpecker,{{citation | author = BirdLife International 2007 | title = 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species | url = http://www.iucnredlist.org/search/details.php/49373/all | access-date = 2007-10-13}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}, citing {{citation | last1 = Dowsett | first1 = R. J. | last2 = Forbes-Watson | first2 = A. D. | year = 1993 | title = Checklist of Birds of the Afrotropical and Malagasy Regions. Volume 1: Species limits and distribution | publisher = Tauraco Press}} Zimmerman et al. because "it is said to intergrade freely with nominate bennettii in Malawi" Here it is considered a separate species following the Handbook of the Birds of the World{{citation | last1 = del Hoyo | first1 = J. | last2 = Elliott | first2 = A. | last3 = Sargatal | first3 = J. | year = 2002 | title = Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 7: Jacamars To Woodpeckers | publisher = Lynx Edicions | location = Barcelona | isbn = 84-87334-15-6 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/handbookofbirdso0001unse }} and other authorities.{{Citation | last = Clements | first = James F. | author-link = James F. Clements | year = 2007 | title = The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World | publisher = Cornell University Press | edition = Sixth | isbn = 978-0-8014-4501-9}}, according to {{citation | last = Lepage | first = Denis | year = 2003–2007 | title = Avibase - the world bird database | url = http://www.bsc-eoc.org/avibase/species.jsp?lang=EN&id=0C9FA6CE5DE13A58&ts=1192416209578&sec=summary | access-date = 2007-10-13}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- Speckle-throated woodpecker - [http://sabap2.adu.org.za/docs/sabap1/482.pdf Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds]{{dead link|date=January 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
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