23 : Streak-throated Woodpecker

Streak-throated Woodpecker - Picus Xanthopygaeus

Woodpeckers are everybody's favourite. They are nornally colourful and they are interesting to watch in terms of behaviour. They are usually have loud calls and also drum on tree trunks which is quite a physical feat. Can you imagine knocking on a tree with a hammer in order to get the same kind of sound to carry. This is another big family of birds that over time I will need to get through.

This Streak-throated Woodpecker was on the lawn at Kirchayne lodge in the high tea country near Bunderwele in Sri Lanka. The lawn itself with the rose beds looked all the world as if it could have been in Surrey. This was the last big tea plantation owned by an "English" family before nationalisation by the Sri Lankan government. With a green looking woodpecker on the lawn it really could be mistaken for a little part of England. It was raining when this was taken for starters and croquet and tennis were off !

Streak-throated woodpeckers are obviously in the same sub-set of woodpeckers as "greens". They are common on the Indian sub-continent and South Asia generally. This bird was probably grubbing for ants or leatherjackets under the lawn. Its a male given the bright crimson cap. I expect the scene has been repeated up and down the Indian sub-continent during the colonial era - A guy sat there with a gin and tonic remembering his lawn and the birds back home as he worries about the price of tea.

Steak-throated Woodpecker - Picus xanthopygaeus
Kirchayne lodge, Bunderwele, Sri Lanka
14 April 2011