Golden tailed woodpecker

Introduction: The golden-tailed woodpecker (Campethera abingoni) is another caterpillar hunter, named after the 5th Earl of Abingdon (1784-1854) who was possibly a member of an 1834 expedition led by Andrew Smith, when this species was collected. they inhabit woodland, mountain forests and Acacia woodland.

Distribution: Central and northern Namibia including Etosha National Park, Epupa Falls, Rundu, Windhoek, Erongo Mountains, populations in Damaraland, and Kaokoland. Absent from Namib Desert.

Diet: This species of woodpecker tap and probe with their bill on sections of branches and stems of trees and shrubs, often working at 1 spot for long periods to glean ants from tree surfaces and probes subsurface nests to catch prey with their sticky tongues. They also eat termites and their eggs and millipedes.

Description: Yellow colouring in shafts of flight feathers and tail, small to medium-sized with greenish back woodpecker.

Breeding: Ground nests are made by both male and female, often in the underside of a sloping main tree. Females lay 2 or 3 eggs with an incubation period of 13 days.

Size: 19 to 23cm.

Weight: 70g.