Heart-spotted woodpecker facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Heart-spotted woodpecker |
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| Genus: |
Hemicircus
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| Species: |
canente
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The heart-spotted woodpecker (Hemicircus canente) is a special kind of bird in the woodpecker family. It has cool black and white feathers. This bird also has a short, chunky body and a big, wedge-shaped head. These features make it easy to spot!
You can often hear its calls, which helps find it as it looks for insects. It searches for bugs under the bark of tree branches. These woodpeckers usually move around in pairs or small groups. They often join other bird species to find food together. You can find them across Asia, from India to the Himalayas and Southeast Asia.
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About the Heart-Spotted Woodpecker
The heart-spotted woodpecker was first described in 1832. A French scientist named René Lesson gave it the scientific name Picus canente. Later, it was placed in the group (genus) called Hemicircus. This bird is considered "monotypic," which means there are no different types or subspecies of it.
What Does It Look Like?
This woodpecker is small and has a unique shape. It is mostly black and a creamy white color. It has a large crest of feathers on its head. This makes its head look quite big compared to its short body and tail.
Both male and female birds are mostly black. They have black, heart-shaped spots on their white shoulders. They also have wide white patches on their backs and stripes on their wing feathers.
You can tell males and females apart by their heads. Females have a creamy white forehead and top of the head. Males have a black forehead and crown. Their throat is whitish, and their belly area is dark olive-grey.
Some feathers on their back are special. They can feel sticky in museum specimens. These feathers sometimes make the bird's rump look creamy. Scientists think these feathers might help the bird look better. The sticky stuff is said to smell nice, but nobody knows exactly why the bird has it.
Where Do They Live?
These woodpeckers live in subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. This means they like warm, wet forests that are not too high up. You can find them in the Himalayan forests of India. Their home also stretches into Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.
In India, they also live in the Western Ghats mountain range. You can also find them in the forests of central India. Birds from the northern areas are a bit bigger than those closer to the equator.
How Do They Behave?
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Heart-spotted woodpeckers often look for food in pairs. Sometimes, they join groups of different bird species to find food together. They fly from tree to tree with a bouncy flight. Their big head makes them look a bit heavy when they fly.
They usually search for food on thin branches. They call out often while they are foraging. They mostly eat insects found under tree bark. However, they have also been seen pecking at Cassia fistula pods. They do this to get insect larvae inside.
Their calls include a sharp twee-twee-twee sound. This is often a duet call between two birds. It can sometimes turn into a long trill of many notes. They also make a nosey ki-yeew sound and repeated su-sie calls.
They do not drum on trees very often. They mostly drum during the breeding season, which is usually in winter and before the rainy season.
Nesting and Life Cycle
These woodpeckers make their nests in dead branches. They drill a narrow hole, about 3 to 4 centimeters wide. The tunnel goes down at an angle for about 20 centimeters. Then, it widens into a chamber where the eggs are laid. Sometimes, they even build nests in fence posts!
A female heart-spotted woodpecker usually lays 2 or 3 eggs. The eggs are plain white with no markings.
Images for kids
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Male heart-spotted woodpecker
