Cardinal Woodpecker (Dendropicos fuscescens)
About the Cardinal Woodpecker
The cardinal woodpecker (Dendropicos fuscescens) is a widespread and common resident breeder in much of sub-Saharan Africa. It occurs in a wide range of habitats, ranging from dense forest to thorn bush. It is fairly vocal and is easily identified by its call notes. The sexes are distinguishable by their head patterns. They feed primarily on tree-boring insects; using their adhering tongues they extract the insects from holes in wood or bark.
No audio on this page yet
We only publish recordings we may use commercially, because this site is supported by ads. xeno-canto lists 81 recordings for this species: 5 CC BY-NC-ND · 1 CC BY-NC-SA. None of them permits commercial use, so there is no player here — the page is kept as a profile so the bird is not missing from the guide.
As soon as someone uploads a freely licensed recording, we mirror it and the player appears here.
Listed as recorded in Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi in the xeno-canto catalogue.
Related species you can hear
- Eastern Grey WoodpeckerDendropicos spodocephalusrecording
This species has no recording here yet — these relatives do, so you can hear what the family sounds like.