The Sind woodpecker (''Dendrocopos assimilis'') is a species of
bird in the 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. M ...
. It is native to Pakistan, India and southern Iran.
Description
Sind woodpeckers are similar to
Syrian woodpecker
The Syrian woodpecker (''Dendrocopos syriacus'') is a member of the woodpecker family, the Picidae.
Taxonomy
The Syrian woodpecker was first described as ''Picus syriacus'' by Wilhelm Hemprich and Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg in 1833, from ...
in appearance, with former being smaller in size, with thin mustache and excessive white feathers on their back and smaller beak. Sind woodpeckers have white shoulder patches and bars on its black feathers. It is the only black and white woodpecker in its region.
Distribution and diet
The woodpecker is a resident bird and native to Pakistan, India and southern Iran. They have moderate forest reliance and can be found up to the altitude of 2,200 meters, they are also found in rural gardens and plantations.
Naturally they are found in tropical and subtropical dry forests, riverine forests, thorny shrub-lands, dry scrub-lands and wetlands like freshwater springs and oases.
They are non-migratory birds, with mostly population dispersing after breeding locally.
The Sind woodpecker's diet mostly consist of insects, including
woodboring beetles,
larvae
A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle.
The ...
,
spiders
Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species dive ...
and
ants.
Reproduction
The breeding season occurs between March and April. These species are
monogamous
Monogamy ( ) is a form of Dyad (sociology), dyadic Intimate relationship, relationship in which an individual has only one Significant other, partner during their lifetime. Alternately, only one partner at any one time (Monogamy#Serial monogamy, ...
, meaning both the parents raise the young ones and nest in tree holes excavated by the breeding pair. They lay about 3 to 5 eggs, with both the parents incubating them. The chicks hatch after 12 days of incubation and fledgling occurs after 20 days. The juvenile disperse to new location.
Status
The global population of the Sind woodpecker has not been evaluated. The general population of the species is stable. In the greater part of its range, this Sind woodpecker species is accounted for to be locally common. The age length is 5.2 years.
Its distribution size is around 1,490,000 square km. Deforestation is a main threat to the species.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1274639
Sind woodpecker
Birds of Pakistan
Birds of Sindh