Hix

Cardinal Woodpecker

  • Media owner Hix
  • Date added
Lake Natron
October 2014
Lake Natron
October 2014
 
Note for @Hix - this is actually a pair of Cardinal Woodpeckers Dendropicos [or Chloropicus] fuscescens.
 
Looking in my field guides I have a suspicion this might be a Cardinal female above and Green-backed male below. Cardinals have streaked chests, not spotted like the lower bird.
 
@Hix it has a different "feel" to Green-backed though (in body form). Also the breast markings in Green-backed is individual spotting, whereas in Cardinal it is streaky spotting (i.e. elongated rather than round, which form the streaks rather than being individual separate spots as in Green-backed), and Green-backed don't have the ladder markings on the back and wings.
 
Having looked in HBW since my last post I have to agree - Cardinals seem to have some variation across their range and this male seems to be like one of the subspecies of Cardinals.
 

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Tanzania - Wildlife
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Hix
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