Bay Woodpecker

The bay woodpecker is a mid-size woodpecker 26.5–30 cm long and weighing 126–170 g. Males have a brown crown, a short crest and nape with streaking and a pale brown forehead, while females have a shorter bill than males and a pale head without red on the neck. Birds use crest-raising and wing-flicking displays when calling for a mate. It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam (Wikipedia, general species account).

Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland and montane forest. Most foraging is 3–4 m up on trunks, rotting snags, logs, saplings, vines and bamboo. The diet is insects such as ants, termites and wood-boring beetles, with an occasional berry. Birds do not forage near other bay woodpeckers but keep loose contact with their partners, and both sexes dig a low nest hole, 1–4 m up, in live or dead wood; the parents share incubation and feeding of the brood. SoIB 2023 rates it a Low conservation priority, a resident and altitudinal migrant of forest with a Moderate range and insufficient data on trends (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).