Description:

Medium sized, typical black and white woodpecker. Black mantle, white wing-patch and unmarked underparts. Has black rear border to ear-coverts. Underparts and head white or plain pale buff with black Y-shaped mark on neck and cheeks. The crown is red in males and black in females.

Distribution:

Locally common resident in lower valleys of Gilgit, Diamer and Astore districts. Prefers rather dense, extensive or smaller patches of coniferous forest of pine, fir and juniper, also oak and shrubby mountain forest. Between 1900m and 3200m.

Behavior:

Forages singly or in pairs. Arboreal feeder, rarely descends to ground. Techniques include pecking, probing, hammering, gleaning. Food consists of insects and their larvae, other arthropods; also plant matter, possibly including sap. Takes wood-boring beetle larvae, weevils, caterpillars and spiders; acorns and seeds of pines important food in winter.

Photo Gallery:

Range & Occurrence:

Resident Species

Summer Breeder

Winter Visitor

Passage Migrant

Distribution Map of Himalayan Woodpecker in Gilgit-Baltistan (Status: )

Seasonal Occurrence of Himalayan Woodpecker

Resources:

Birds of Pakistan: Helm Field Guides (R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
The Birds of Pakistan (T. J. Roberts)
Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (C. Inskipp, R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide (P. Rasmussen & J. Anderton)
Birds of India: Collins Field Guide (N. Arlott)
Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan (S. Ali & S. D. Ripley)
Handbook of the Birds of the World (https://www.hbw.com)
The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, 6th Edition
iNaturalist BoGB (inaturalist.org/projects/birds-of-gilgit-baltistan)
Birds of Gilgit-Baltistan (http://fb.me/birdsgb)

*Gallery images on this page are shared from flickr.com, and are copyrighted to their respective creators or owners.