Black-headed Woodpecker

Black-headed Woodpecker Picus erythropygius is a beautiful bird found in the semi-deciduous, broad-leaved Dipterocarp woodland in the lower elevations of the Doi Inthanon National Park. We had six sightings but mostly at distance. The photo does not do justice to this bird partly because of the distance from the camera and partly because some of the bird is hidden behind tree branches. It is a large woodpecker around 33 cm. in length the male having a red crown and the female a black crown. This particular bird looks like a female therefore. The subspecies found in north-west Thailand is P.e.nigrigenis.

Black-headed Woodpecker is a species of bird in the Picidae family. It is found in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its natural habitats are temperate forests and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is not globally threatened and is generally scarce to uncommon.

References: HBW Alive; Thai National Parks