About Dendrocopos hyperythrus (Vigors, 1831)
The rufous-bellied woodpecker (Dendrocopos hyperythrus) measures between 19 and 23 cm (7.5 to 9.1 inches) in length. Males have a red crown, while females have a black crown speckled with white. Both sexes share the same plumage and physical traits: they have a black mantle and back, black wings barred with white, and a black upper tail with white barring on the outermost two pairs of tail feathers. Their face is white, and their throat and underparts are a uniform cinnamon or rufous. The lower belly is black barred with white, and the undertail coverts are red or pink. They have chestnut irises, a black upper mandible and grey lower mandible on the beak, and grey or olive legs. Ecologically, this woodpecker has a brush-tipped tongue adapted to feed on sap. It mostly seeks sap in the spring, and feeds on wood-boring and bark insects during most other seasons. Tree species it uses include Quercus semecarpifolia, Quercus glauca, Betula utilis, Ilex dipyrena, and rhododendrons. The same individual trees may be used for sap extraction year after year, which causes changes to the tree's shape. Other bird species also visit the sap wells that this woodpecker creates; these visiting species include the rufous sibia, white-browed fulvetta, rufous-winged fulvetta, hoary-throated barwing, chestnut-tailed minla, blue-winged minla, several warblers, green-backed tit, yellow-browed tit, white-tailed nuthatch, and green-tailed sunbird.
