The banded woodpecker or the banded red woodpecker is a species of bird in the family Picidae. It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, and Thailand. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical mangrove forests.
Region
Southeast Asia
Typical Environment
Occurs from southern Myanmar and Thailand through Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore to the Greater Sundas of Brunei and Indonesia. It inhabits moist lowland evergreen forest, peat-swamp forest, and mangroves, and also uses selectively logged and secondary forests. Typically found in the lower to mid canopy, it forages on trunks, large branches, and dead snags. It is generally absent from open country and high montane habitats.
Altitude Range
Sea level to 1200 m
Climate Zone
Tropical
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
This medium-sized woodpecker is often heard before it is seen, giving a ringing, whinnying call from the mid-story of humid forests. It usually forages by probing and prying off bark scales rather than heavy drilling, taking ants, termites, and beetle larvae. Males show a red malar stripe, while females lack it, a helpful field mark. It tolerates secondary growth and mangroves but declines where extensive lowland forest is lost.
Temperament
shy and inconspicuous
Flight Pattern
undulating with short rapid wingbeats
Social Behavior
Usually seen singly or in pairs that maintain territories year-round, and it sometimes joins mixed-species flocks in the forest mid-story. Nests are excavated in soft or decaying wood, with both sexes participating in cavity preparation and incubation. Breeding timing varies locally within its tropical range.
Migratory Pattern
Resident
Song Description
Gives a clear, ringing whinny that rises and falls, often repeated in short series from a concealed perch. Drumming is soft and brief compared to larger woodpeckers, used mainly for communication rather than extensive excavation.
Plumage
Upperparts bronzy-olive with dark barring; underparts heavily banded in black and buff giving a scaly appearance. Head and nape rich chestnut-red with a small crest; tail dark with pale barring. Plumage is crisp and finely patterned rather than boldly spotted.
Diet
Feeds primarily on ants, termites, wood-boring beetle larvae, and other small arthropods found under bark and in rotten wood. It probes crevices, flakes off bark, and gleans from branches rather than performing heavy chiseling. Occasionally takes small invertebrates from epiphytes and vines and may ingest a little plant matter incidentally.
Preferred Environment
Forages on trunks, large branches, and dead snags in the lower to mid canopy of humid lowland forests. Also uses mangroves, peat-swamp forest edges, and selectively logged or secondary forest where old trees and dead wood remain.
