The speckle-throated woodpecker, also known as Reichenow's woodpecker, is an East African woodpecker often considered a subspecies of Bennett's woodpecker. The bird is named after the German ornithologist Anton Reichenow.
Region
East Africa
Typical Environment
Found patchily from southeastern Tanzania through northern Mozambique and into adjacent Malawi, mainly in dry woodland zones. It favors miombo (Brachystegia–Julbernardia) and mixed deciduous woodlands, wooded savanna, and forest edges. Birds often occur in areas with abundant termite mounds and ant colonies. It uses both mature woodland and more open, broken habitats with scattered trees, and will forage on the ground as well as on trunks and low branches.
Altitude Range
0–1500 m
Climate Zone
Tropical
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
Also called Reichenow's woodpecker, it is sometimes treated as a subspecies of Bennett's woodpecker but differs in voice and its distinctly speckled throat. It specializes in ants and termites, using a long sticky tongue to extract prey. Named for German ornithologist Anton Reichenow, it inhabits East African woodlands and savannas.
Temperament
shy and unobtrusive
Flight Pattern
undulating with short rapid wingbeats
Social Behavior
Usually seen singly or in pairs; may accompany mixed-species flocks in woodland. Likely monogamous, excavating a nest cavity in a dead or decaying tree limb. Both sexes participate in nesting duties, and family groups may persist for some weeks after fledging.
Migratory Pattern
Resident
Song Description
Gives sharp, metallic notes and a chattering rattle that may descend in pitch. Drumming is soft and brief compared to many temperate woodpeckers, with more reliance on vocal calls for communication.
Plumage
Olive-green upperparts densely spotted and barred pale, with a heavily speckled white throat that continues onto the upper breast. Underparts buff to whitish with dark spotting; tail barred. Male shows red crown and nape with a red malar stripe; female has a mottled dark crown with pale spots and lacks the red malar.
Diet
Primarily consumes ants and termites, probing into galleries and mounds with a long sticky tongue. Also takes beetles and other small invertebrates, including larvae in rotting wood. Will peck and pry at bark, tap dead limbs, and forage on the ground around termite mounds.
Preferred Environment
Feeds in miombo and mixed woodland, along edges, and in open savanna with scattered trees. Often forages on lower trunks, fallen logs, and on the ground near active ant and termite sites.
