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1. White-naped woodpecker
Of all the woodpeckers the white-naped woodpecker has been my rarest find. Unbelievably I found and photographed this woodpecker right outside my house in unassuming Assagao! The three pics below are of the male. I’m still chasing the female with the brilliant yellow crown!

2. Lesser golden-backed woodpecker
This woodpecker is the only goldenback with a black throat and a black rump. Like other woodpeckers it has a stiff tail and zygodactyl feet (two toes pointing forward and two toes pointing backward) to help it while climbing. This species is normally seen in pairs and often joins mixed hunting parties in its search for insects and beetle larvae hiding under tree bark.

The adult male has a red crown and crest.

The adult female has a black forecrown spotted with white, with red only on the rear crest

3.White-bellied woodpecker

If you wanna get a shot of this beauty then do what I did: first get a bird call program and study the call of this woodpecker. Then go out on a fool’s errand to Cotigao wildlife sanctuary. Crawl your car along the dirty track of the sanctuary and stick your head out of the window (like Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura!) and strain your ears to listen. If you so much as suspect you hear the call of this monster of a woodpecker, switch off the car engine, jump out of your car and follow the source of the sound. Be patient and eventually…if you’re lucky…the bird will come to you!

4. Rufous woodpecker

The bird below isn’t the most colorful of woodpeckers but definitely a very interesting one. Apparently this woodpecker nests within the nest of the black tree ant. I’ve never actually seen a pair nesting in an ant nest but I have on numerous occasions seen a single woodpecker bashing away at this ferocious little insect’s nest and making mince meat out of the occupants. The woodpecker eats the scurrying ants and the larvae it can find amidst taking periodic breaks to shake and dust off the little formic acid spraying warriors.

Male

Female

I’ve read a few reports that suggest a symbiotic relationship between the ant and the woodpecker during the nesting season of the woodpecker. The woodpecker certainly lays its eggs and rears its young in the nest of the black tree ant. Reports claim that the woodpecker stops eating the ants during the nesting period and prevents other woodpeckers from doing so too and therefore the ants leave the eggs and babies of the woodpecker alone even though the ants are known to feed on bird eggs. I have yet to witness this first hand!

Mating woodpeckers below!