The Abyssinian woodpecker (''Dendropicos abyssinicus''), also known as the golden-backed woodpecker or the golden-mantled woodpecker, is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the woodpecker family,

Picidae Woodpeckers are part of the bird family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar and the extreme polar regions. ...

. It is native to Africa, where it occurs in

Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...

and

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

. It appears to be a close relative of the

cardinal woodpecker The cardinal woodpecker (''Dendropicos fuscescens'') is a widespread and common resident breeder in much of sub-Saharan Africa. It occurs in a wide range of habitats, ranging from dense forest to thorn bush. It is fairly vocal and is easily ident ...

''Dendropicos fuscescens''.

Description

The Abyssinian woodpecker is a very small woodpecker with a relatively long and broad bill. It has a golden yellow back and mantle with a bright red rump and barred wings and barred tail, the underparts are pale and heavily streaked with black. The head is striped and the male is distinguished by having a red nape and crown. The brown stripe through the eye and the golden mantle separate this species from the related

Cardinal Woodpecker The cardinal woodpecker (''Dendropicos fuscescens'') is a widespread and common resident breeder in much of sub-Saharan Africa. It occurs in a wide range of habitats, ranging from dense forest to thorn bush. It is fairly vocal and is easily ident ...

. It measured in length and weighs .

Distribution and habitat

The Abyssinian woodpecker is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the Ethiopian Highlands. It occurs north, up to central

and the

Degua Tembien Dogu'a Tembien (, "Upper Tembien", sometimes transliterated as Degua Tembien or Dägʿa Tämben) is a districts of Ethiopia, woreda in Tigray Region, Ethiopia. It is named in part after the former province of Tembien Province, Tembien. Nowadays, ...

mountains in

, and east to

Harar Harar (; Harari language, Harari: ሀረር / ; ; ; ), known historically by the indigenous as Harar-Gey or simply Gey (Harari: ጌይ, ݘٛىيْ, ''Gēy'', ), is a List of cities with defensive walls, walled city in eastern Ethiopia. It is al ...

in Ethiopia and the River Alata, a tributary of the

Hanger River The Hanger (also transliterated Angar River) is a river in west central Ethiopia. It is a west-flowing tributary of the Didessa River, itself a tributary of the Blue Nile (also called the Abay River in Ethiopia). The Hanger enters the Didessa app ...

. This species occurs in

juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' ( ) of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere as far south ...

woods and ''

Hagenia ''Hagenia'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plant with the sole species ''Hagenia abyssinica'', native to the high-elevation Afromontane regions of central and eastern Africa. It also has a disjunct distribution in the high mountains of East ...

'' forest, also in areas of ''

Euphorbia ''Euphorbia'' is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants, commonly called spurge, in the family (biology), family Euphorbiaceae. Euphorbias range from tiny annual plants to large and long-lived trees, with perhaps the tallest being ''Eu ...

'', particularly between and occasionally higher. It has also been found in wooded savanna at lower altitudes.

Habits

The biology and ecology of the Abyssinian woodpecker is almost unknown. It is an unobtrusive bird which probes for food among moss growing on trees. It is thought that the nesting period probably runs between December and May.

Conservation status

The Abyssinian woodpecker has a very large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable and is currently classed as Least Concern but it is thought to be decreasing in population and contracting its range due to continuing clearance of woodlands.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q971542 Abyssinian woodpecker Birds of the Horn of Africa Abyssinian woodpecker Taxonomy articles created by Polbot