The southern sooty woodpecker (''Mulleripicus fuliginosus'') is a

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 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

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

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

on the islands of

Mindanao Mindanao ( ) is the List of islands of the Philippines, second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and List of islands by population, seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the ...

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has been ...

, and

Samar Samar ( ) is the third-largest and seventh-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 1,909,537 as of the 2020 census. It is located in the eastern Visayas, which are in the central Philippines. The island is divided in ...

. Its natural habitat is It is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

Description and taxonomy

EBird eBird is an online database of bird observations providing scientists, researchers and amateur naturalists with real-time data about bird distribution and abundance. Originally restricted to sightings from the Western Hemisphere, the project e ...

describes the bird as "A large woodpecker of lowland forest in the southern Philippines. Overall sooty-gray with a fairly long pointed tail, fine speckling on the head, pale eyes, and an ivory-colored bill. Male has a red mark from the base of the bill to the cheek. Occurs together with Buff-spotted Flameback and White-bellied Woodpecker, but has a plain gray belly. Voice includes high-pitched chips and squeals." Both the southern sooty woodpecker and the northern sooty woodpecker were previously considered to be subspecies of the same species, ''Mulleripicus funebris'', known simply as the "sooty woodpecker". They were split as distinct species by the

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based in L ...

in 2021. The Southern sooty differs from the Northern sooty with its light ashy gray plumage, its white ivory colored bill, the male's bright red mark on its cheek, larger white spots on its neck and face and slightly smaller size in comparison to its Northern counterpart's dark gray plumage and male's burgundy facial markings over its entire face. This species is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

and has no subspecies.

Ecology and behaviour

Not much is known about this species, but it is presumed to feed on invertebrates including larvae feeding on dead wood. It is typically found singly or as a pair. It forages high up on tall trees. The breeding season is reported as April to August in Samar and Leyte. Like all woodpeckers, this species is a cavity nester. A nest observed in April contained 2 chicks .

Habitat and conservation status

Its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s are at tropical moist lowland

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

forest up to 1,000 meters above sea level. They cannot seem to tolerate degraded habitats and

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has regenerated through largely natural processes after human-caused Disturbance (ecology), disturbances, such as Logging, timber harvest or agriculture clearing, or ...

. The

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

has assessed this bird as vulnerable with the population believed to be on the decline. Its main threat is

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

through both legal and

Illegal logging Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase, or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, or from a p ...

, conversion into farmlands through

Slash-and-burn Slash-and-burn agriculture is a form of shifting cultivation that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a Field (agriculture), field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody p ...

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, ca ...

burning, and mining. Its preference for low altitudes suggests that it must have suffered population losses with the loss of lowland forest in the Philippines. There are currently no species-specific conservation plans. It occurs in a few protected areas on

Pasonanca Natural Park The Pasonanca Natural Park is a List of protected areas of the Philippines, protected area that preserves a major watershed in the southern Philippines, Philippine island of Mindanao in the Zamboanga Peninsula. It contains the headwaters of the ...

and

Samar Island Natural Park The Samar Island Natural Park, in Samar, is the largest contiguous tract of old-growth forest in the Philippines. It is the country's largest terrestrial protected area, with an area of . The buffer is spread north to south over the island's three ...

. However, as with most areas in the

, protection from hunting and illegal logging is lax. Conservation actions proposed are surveys to assess the total population size and locate strongholds. Monitor habitat trends. Increase the area of primary forest in the species' range that receives effective protection. Carry out long term habitat restoration with native tree species.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q10795296 southern sooty woodpecker Endemic birds of the Philippines southern sooty woodpecker