Greater Yellownape

The Greater Yellownape is a substantial forest woodpecker found from the Himalayan foothills across mainland and parts of insular Southeast Asia. Unlike many pied woodpeckers, it lacks bold black-and-white contrast, instead showing an even wash of olive-green set off by a bright yellow crest on the nape.

Its size and quiet, deliberate foraging manner make it a characteristic, if easily overlooked, presence in dense forest canopy.

• Back and wing feathers are a fairly uniform olive-green, without the strong barring seen in many pied woodpeckers
• Elongated, pointed feathers form a shaggy yellow crest on the nape, unique among most sympatric woodpeckers
• Throat feathers differ by sex: bright yellow in males, duller olive-brown in females
• Underparts show fine dusky barring over a pale olive-buff ground color
• Tail feathers are blackish and stiff, as in other trunk-climbing woodpeckers

The main plumage difference between sexes is throat color, yellow in males and dull olive-brown in females, both sharing the same olive-green body and yellow nape crest. Juveniles are duller and show less defined barring on the underparts. Adults molt once following the breeding season.

• Found from the Himalayan foothills and northeastern India across mainland Southeast Asia to parts of the Sunda region
• Favors dense evergreen and mixed broadleaf forest, including secondary growth with large trees and bamboo
• Largely resident, with some local altitudinal movement in mountainous parts of its range

Greater Yellownapes forage at middle to upper levels of the forest, methodically working along larger branches and trunks for wood-boring insects and ants. Their presence is often announced by a loud, ringing call before the bird itself is seen. Nests are excavated in dead wood within the forest interior.