The southern sooty woodpecker is a bird in the family Picidae. It is endemic to the Philippines on the islands of Mindanao, Leyte, and Samar. Its natural habitat is It is threatened by habitat loss.
Region
Southern Philippines
Typical Environment
Occurs on Mindanao, Leyte, and Samar, where it inhabits primary and older secondary evergreen forests. It favors lowland and foothill dipterocarp forests with abundant deadwood and large trunks for cavity excavation. It is most frequently encountered in interior forest but may visit edges and selectively logged areas if some large trees remain. Sensitivity to extensive habitat degradation limits its presence in fragmented landscapes.
Altitude Range
0–1500 m
Climate Zone
Tropical
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
The southern sooty woodpecker is a large, dark woodpecker found only on a few islands in the southern Philippines. It relies heavily on mature lowland forests with large trees for foraging and nesting. Because these habitats are rapidly declining, the species is under significant conservation pressure. Protecting primary forest remnants is key to its survival.
Temperament
quiet and rather shy
Flight Pattern
bounding flight with strong bursts of wingbeats
Social Behavior
Usually seen singly, in pairs, or small family groups. Nests in cavities excavated in large, often dead or decaying trees. Both adults are believed to share incubation and chick-rearing duties. Territorial drumming and calls are used to maintain pair bonds and territories.
Migratory Pattern
Resident
Song Description
Vocalizations include harsh, nasal kek or kyaa notes and short rattling series. Drumming is firm and resonant but not prolonged, used mainly for territorial signaling.
Plumage
Mostly uniform sooty-brown to blackish plumage with a matte appearance and minimal patterning.
Diet
Feeds primarily on wood-boring beetle larvae, ants, and termites extracted from trunks, branches, and deadwood. It probes and pries bark, chisels into decayed timber, and gleans insects from surfaces. Occasional small arthropods are taken from epiphytes and vines. Fruit is rarely, if ever, a significant component.
Preferred Environment
Forages in mature forest with large trees, snags, and fallen logs that harbor insect larvae. Often works mid to lower trunks but will ascend to larger branches and canopy snags in quiet forest interiors.
