Woodpeckers of the World: Picid in Focus: Little Green Woodpecker Campethera maculosa

Monday 27 December 2010

Picid in Focus: Little Green Woodpecker Campethera maculosa

This easily overlooked species has a restricted range in western Africa in Senegal, Sierra-Leone, Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau, Ghana and Liberia. It was also recently found in Gambia. It inhabits forest edges, open, fragmented woods, riverside forest and logged areas and clearings with scattered trees. Photo: Female Little Green Woodpecker, Gambia, November 2010, Vaughan Ashby.

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Background

Woodpeckers, the Picidae, are Piciformes, an order that includes some of the oldest avian lineages. The Piciformes probably originated about 60 million years ago in the Tertiary period and became distinct from their closest relatives some 50 million years ago. Depending upon which taxonomy is followed, and the fact that the status of some species is unclear, around 240-260 woodpecker species probably exist globally. The Picidae includes three subfamilies: Jynginae (wrynecks), Picumninae (piculets) and the Picinae, the “true woodpeckers”. In terms of size, behaviour, distribution and the habitats they use, the Picinae are a fairly diverse group of birds with six distinct tribes. They are widespread and found from sea-level to high-altitudes but absent from the Arctic, Antarctica, Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Madagascar and some other islands. Worldwide woodpeckers are usually, but not exclusively, associated with trees.