Himalayan Woodpecker

The Himalayan woodpecker is a medium-sized pied woodpecker about 24 cm long. It is glossy black above with broad white patches from shoulder to lower back, limited white barring on the flight feathers and clean white tail edgings. The underparts and head are white or plain pale buff with a black Y-shaped mark on the neck and cheeks, the crown is red in males and black in females, and the vent and undertail coverts are red or pink (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is found in the northern Indian subcontinent, primarily the Himalaya and some adjoining areas, in Afghanistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan and Pakistan, at 1,500–3,200 m. It forages alone, usually on trunks and large branches but sometimes on the ground, with a varied diet of insects, fruits, seeds and sap. SoIB 2023 treats it as a Himalayan endemic and rates it a Low conservation priority, a resident and altitudinal migrant of forest with a Moderate range and a stable current trend (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).