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'''Alternative name: Algerian Woodpecker''' | '''Alternative name: Algerian Woodpecker''' | ||
| + | [[Image:LevaillantsWoodpecker.jpg|thumb|450px|right|Male<br />Photo by {{user|nick+scarle|nick scarle}}<br />[[Morocco]]]] | ||
;[[:Category:Picus|Picus]] vaillantii | ;[[:Category:Picus|Picus]] vaillantii | ||
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==Identification== | ==Identification== | ||
30-33 cm in length with a 45-51 cm wingspan. Dark green above and yellowish green below, with a crimson nape. The black moustache has a pale border above. The rump is chrome yellow and the outer webs of the primaries are barred black and white. The bill and feet are slate grey. | 30-33 cm in length with a 45-51 cm wingspan. Dark green above and yellowish green below, with a crimson nape. The black moustache has a pale border above. The rump is chrome yellow and the outer webs of the primaries are barred black and white. The bill and feet are slate grey. | ||
Revision as of 09:23, 20 July 2014
Alternative name: Algerian Woodpecker
- Picus vaillantii
Identification
30-33 cm in length with a 45-51 cm wingspan. Dark green above and yellowish green below, with a crimson nape. The black moustache has a pale border above. The rump is chrome yellow and the outer webs of the primaries are barred black and white. The bill and feet are slate grey.
Sexes are similar except that the male has a crimson crown, whereas the female’s crown is grey.
Distribution
Northwest Africa (Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia).
Taxonomy
Differs from the closely related Eurasian Green Woodpecker Picus viridis in lacking black around the eye, and in females having a grey, not red, crown. The Iberian Green Woodpecker Picus (viridis) sharpei is intermediate.
Habitat
Mountain forests
Behaviour
This woodpecker’s insect food, mainly ants, is captured by a rapid outward flick of the long tongue, and gummed to its tip by sticky saliva.
It nests in a hole in a tree, and 4-8 glossy white eggs are laid on wood chips.
