IDENTIFICATION

26 - 31cm. The only largely green woodpecker species that has occurred in HK, and the only one which is at all likely to occur in the future; the group of races occurring in southern China and elsewhere in mainland south-east Asia, also known as ‘Black-naped Woodpecker’, are distinguished from  other green-backed woodpeckers in South China by their combination of grey head with a red (male) or black (female) crown, and black nape and moustachial stripe (in both sexes, though both can be inconspicous in immatures), together with unmarked greyish-green underparts. Rather than other woodpeckers, it is perhaps more likely to be confused in a brief flight view with a barbet or especially a dull female or immature Black-naped Oriole, the latter species is a similar size and has a similar rather undulating flight when crossing open areas.

VOCALISATIONS

The territorial call is a descending series of up to 20 notes.

OCCURRENCE

The first HK records were of one seen in Lam Tsuen Valley on 1 January 1931 (Herklots 1934) and of two seen there, one of which was a female, on 31 January 1940 (Herklots 1940). Whilst details of these observations were published, further records from the Lam Tsuen Valley in 1940 and 1941 (Herklots 1953) are less well documented, as was one at Ping Shan on 7 October in either 1955, 1956 or 1957 (Walker 1958) and a series of irregular reports in the Lam Tsuen Valley between 1958 and 1971 (Carey et al. 2001).

Subsequent to these, there are four modern, substantiated records, as follows:

1977: one in Lam Tsuen Valley on 21 April 1977 (age and sex uncertain, contra Carey et al. (2001)), and one at Fanling Golf Course on 15 July 1977.

1996: a female at Liu Pok on 26 December 1996.

1997: a male at Ho Sheung Heung on 9 May 1997.

RANGE & SYSTEMATICS

Occurs throughout much of the central Palearctic, the Himalayas and mainland Southeast Asia (del Hoyo et al. 2020). There are ten subspecies, which fall into two groups: ‘Grey-headed Woodpeckers’ in the Palearctic range including northern China, and ‘Black-naped Woodpeckers’ in southeast Asia and most of southern China including Hainan and Taiwan. The race in HK is presumed to be P. c. sobrinus which occurs throughout southeast China (Liu and Chen 2021). The locations at which this species was recorded closest to HK listed by Lewthwaite (1996) were in northern Guangdong, but recent eBird reports suggest that it is well-established in forests northeast of Guangzhou, approximately 100km from HK (eBird 2024).

CONSERVATION STATUS

IUCN: Least Concern. Population trend increasing.