Animalia Life

Dendropicos goertae
SUBFAMILY
Picinae
TAXONOMY
Picus goertae P. L. S. Mьller, 1776, Senegal. At least eight races described, four currently recognized.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: African gray woodpecker; French: Pic gris; German: Graubrustspecht; Spanish: Pico Gris.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
About 8 in (20 cm); 1.4–1.9 oz (40.5–52.5 g). A small woodpecker with a long, straight, rather broad bill; upperparts are unbarred green or brownish green with a red rump and barred brown tail; underparts are gray with an orange to yellow belly patch and some barring on flanks. Male has a pale, striped, gray head with a red hindcrown and nape; female lacks red on head.
DISTRIBUTION
Found in a broad swath of forest and savanna habitats in central and West Africa; from sea level to 9,800 ft (3,000 m). D. g. goerte, West Africa to Sudan, south to northeastern Zaпre; D. g. koenigi, the Sahel zone across central eastern Mali, Niger, Chad, to western Sudan; D. g. abessinicus, eastern and northern Sudan and northern and western Ethiopia; D. g. meridionalis, south central Zaire, probably to southern Gabon and northwestern Angola.
HABITAT
Wooded and savanna areas, thickets with large trees, riverine forest, gardens, mangroves in some areas.
BEHAVIOR
Found in pairs and family groups, moves rapidly through its
HABITAT
. Often at forest edge.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Forages on the ground and in live and dead trees, especially trunk and larger limbs. Occasionally takes insects in flight. Diet includes ants, termites, beetle larvae, and other arthropods.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Nesting is from December to June in west, December to February and July to September in Zaire, and February to July and September to November in eastern Africa; sexes share nest cavity excavation at 1–60 ft (0.3–18.3 m) above ground in a dead tree or dead stub of a live tree. Clutch size 2–4 eggs. No data on incubation, parental care, or fledging.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not threatened.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
None known.

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