Can anyone ascertain male/female for this Bay Woodpecker? Vietnam from early 2011 (2 Viewers)

[sbarnhardt]

Good Day,

If anyone can offer an educated opinion on whether this Bay Woodpecker is male or female, I'd certainly appreciate hearing from you.
It was taken by member tony.saw in Vietnam in early 2011
Bay Woodpecker
I'm thinking maybe female, but would really appreciate an opinion from someone with more experience than I have.

Thanks!
sbarnhardt, aka Barney

 

[Butty]

No red on side of neck = female. Apparently. Unless there's age issues too.

 

[Andy Adcock]

Looks very much like a juvenile to me, it has no tail feathers so adult, gender features won't apply?

We had a hell of a job seeing this species, very shy and would dart from tree to tree, always in to deep cover.

 

[andyb39]

Looks very much like a juvenile to me, it has no tail feathers so adult, gender features won't apply?

We had a hell of a job seeing this species, very shy and would dart from tree to tree, always in to deep cover.

I think the tail is there, Andy - it's just obscured by backlighting.

As for whether it's a juvenile, according to Woodpeckers of the World (Gorman), juveniles are "duller, with heavier barring on mantle, darker below and with pale streaks on dark crown", which I'm not really seeing here. It is very dark below but annamensis (if this bird was photographed in S Vietnam) is said to be very dark, "especially below". The text adds that even juvenile males show some red on the neck, which we should be able to see from this angle if it were present.