The fulvous-breasted woodpecker is a species of bird in the family Picidae. It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, India and Myanmar. The freckle-breasted woodpecker was formerly considered conspecific with this species.
Region
South Asia
Typical Environment
Occurs across northeastern and northern India into Bangladesh, the Himalayan foothills of Nepal and Bhutan, and west Myanmar. It frequents open forests, forest edges, secondary growth, sal and mixed deciduous woodlands, bamboo thickets, orchards, and wooded farmlands near villages. It tolerates fragmented habitats and uses plantations and groves where mature trees remain. Typically found from lowlands into lower montane foothills, often along riverine corridors and in dry to moist broadleaf forests.
Altitude Range
0–2000 m
Climate Zone
Subtropical
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
A small to medium woodpecker of the Indian subcontinent, the fulvous-breasted woodpecker shows a warm buff (fulvous) wash across the breast with fine streaking. It was formerly lumped with the freckle-breasted woodpecker but is now treated as a separate species. Like other woodpeckers, it communicates with sharp calls and rapid drumming on resonant wood. Males have a red patch on the crown or nape, which females lack.
Temperament
active and wary
Flight Pattern
undulating with bounding wingbeats
Social Behavior
Usually seen singly or in pairs, sometimes in small family groups after breeding. Pairs excavate nest cavities in dead or decaying trunks or large branches. Both sexes incubate and feed the young, with strong territorial defense around the nest site.
Migratory Pattern
Resident
Song Description
Gives sharp pik and chirk notes, often in rapid series. Drumming is a short, fast roll on resonant wood, used for territory advertisement and pair communication.
Plumage
Black-and-white barred upperparts with a buff to fulvous breast and belly finely streaked or spotted. White facial stripes contrast with dark ear coverts and a black nape band; wings show bold white spotting. The undertail is often washed crimson.
Diet
Feeds primarily on wood-boring beetle larvae, ants, termites, and other small insects gleaned from bark crevices and excavated from decayed wood. Also takes spiders and occasionally small fruits or berries. Forages methodically by tapping, probing, and flaking bark, focusing on dead limbs and snags.
Preferred Environment
Mid-trunk to upper trunk and larger branches of mature trees in open forest, edges, and wooded farmland. Often forages on deadwood within secondary growth and along forest margins.
