In the next 3 slots are Woodpeckers having the word "Buff" as part of their name. At 21 cm, this Buff-necked is the largest of the lot.

My first encounter with the Buff-necked Woodpecker was years ago when I was alerted by a medium size bird on top of a low shrub. It was so near and just beside me that I did not have time to make an ID. With the pictures, I confirmed that it was one making some very un-Woodpecker like action. That was a lone bird in Rengit. The pictures posted on this page was when I saw this bird again beside the trail to the Canopy Walk in Taman Negara. That was a pair of them. Some from another encounter in Rengit with a family of 3 birds. The latest batch of pictures were taken off a lone bird in FRIM.

Once more, this is a forest bird, seldom seen in forest edge. On all occasions the birds spent more time in the lower storey. They were extremely shy bird. I suppose spending most of their time in forest with little outside intrusion, they not very attentive creature. Most of my encounter were by chance with the birds extremely close.  On all sightings, the birds were not part of a bird wave. This is a Woodpecker native to the islands of Sumatra and Borneo and in no where mentioned about migratory.

For ID, this series show distinctly the important marking. Photographs show the sharply contrasting pale buff patch on the neck.

The Maroon Woodpecker at 24 cm is a bird of the deep forest. Lowlands and also up till the sub-montane forest. The bird also prefers forest with Bamboo clumps.

Though a bird native to Malaysia, the bird is not often sighted. In fact the few occasions I met the bird at the Gap and Perdik by chance. Not enough experience with the bird to pass on in this page. The images shown below is that of my sole collection of female Maroon Woodpecker.

The Laced Woodpecker is a native in the Indonesian Islands of Sumatra, Java and Bali. But now the birds are resident in places south of the Isthmus of Kra down the Peninsula.

This is a large bird of the mangrove forest. In Malaysia, all the time the birds were seen, the habitats is closely related to coastal wetlands. hence it is unlikely that it would stray into gardens and plantations. The large forests left are those in Matang and Kukup, in other parts of the coast, only a narrow belt of mangrove forest. I believe if you are there at the right season, they should be out in numbers. Breeding season is February-July, the second quarters is the best time.

Typical of all Woodpeckers, the bird would be seen moving up tree trunks. I suppose this is one way of gaining height. From the tall places, the birds gets better choice of its next destination. I mention this, many times now, in Air Hitam and the Kuala Selangor Nature Park, the birds were seen forging among thick foliages in the middle as well as lower storey. There are secondary jungles at the edges of mangrove forest and invariably trees there are low bushes. The Laced Woodpeckers would be flying in without calls and spending some time at eye level with you. 

For ID, remember it is coastal wetland. A Woodpecker with Olive back color and a red head. Our Malaysian species has a thick black colored sub-moustchial stripe. One that has a dull olive upper side. Then the head is lined with a black colored crown, this is the female. 

Yellownape, it is one of those instances where a term is used as name for a bird without including the name  Woodpecker. The Greater Yellownape is a common resident of Frasers Hills. In Malaysia, this bird prefers the sub-montane climate. In other countries of India, western China and Sumatra, this is a montane bird.

At 33 cm, this is another above average size Woodpecker. The bird has an olive-green upper part and a yellow crest on top of a rufous colored head. Only for this sub-species, a broad  yellow sub-moustachial in the area of the chin.

In Frasers Hills, there is another look-alike -the Lesser Yellownape, P.c. rodgeri., has a red crown instead of rufous color on the Greater Yellownape. Watch the primary feathers, the Greater Yellownape has reddish rufous with black bars. The Lesser Yellownape plain rufous.

Greater Yellownape is most frequently encountered, leaving its counterpart Lesser Yellownape as chance encounter. In Frasers Hills, the Greater Yellownape was seen on many occasions accompanied by some Lesser Racquet-tailed Drongo, when moving around in a bird wave.

I have also seen the bird hunting by itself, and without a mate.

Within the group of birds which we term as Woodpeckers, like the Kingfishers do have good size birds commonly known as Woodpeckers and some much smaller ones called Piculets & Woodpeckers. Bilologocally, these birds are group in different families and sharing same characteristics like chisel sharp beak and hammering rapidly on woody surfaces.

Here these tiny birds prefer bamboo plants if they are in deep forest while the other prefer Mangrove trees if they are near the seas. Piculets are hard to spot due to their smaller size especially amidst the dense bamboo clumps. Though difficult to spot, going into their habitats often would automatically generate that chance encounter with ease.

This really tiny Woodpecker at 10 cm with slightly rounded body and a short tail is not easy to spot. This bird as I met up with is a sub-montane residents seen so far in the Frasers Hills. Originally from the southern foothills of the Himalayas, this bird is now resident in Malaysia.

With little opportunity of seeing it often, information on this bird is sketchy. I am still trying to locate more pictures of the bird taken some years back and have not got the chance to see again after all these times.

This is the smallest bird I have encountered at 9 cm. The first time as shown in the series of pictures below, I thought that it was a Beetle, at least the first impression I got in that fleeting moment. At other meetings, I thought the very colorful orange bird was a Sunbird.

Originally from the Greater Sundas, this bird is now resident in Malaysia. Found in the edges of thick forest in the lowlands. My pictures were taken in the low hills of Bukit Laggong, more often in the jungle road of Rengit and also in the sub-montane road in Gohtong Jaya.

Since it is very tiny, sighting is through the flight of a very colorful little bird and the soft drumming of a typical Woodpecker. There were 2 scenes that I have noted. One the bird was stationary busy pecking away while most other times, it was constantly on the move without a minute pause for a decent picture to be taken.

 It is simply the usage of word that I have opt for "tiny" or the officially chosen "Pygmy" to describe this group of small Woodpeckers.

Within the confine of the mangrove forest, there are 2 Pygmy Woodpeckers. Both the Brown-capped and the Grey-capped Woodpecker can be seen at the same place. The Brown-capped was re-named from the previously known Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker. As the name imply, this Brown-capped Woodpecker is among the very small bird at 12.5 cm.

I repeat, I love Woodpeckers! There is a long list of Woodpeckers but so far I am still some way from meeting my target.

These are birds that do give hint or warning of their whereabouts through their slamming against the tree branches. But they were spending tremendously long time at one particular spot. Then another frustration, more often than not, so happened the particular spot where the bird is, hidden away from my view. The sounds transmitted would not help very much until and unless the bird takes a break and alter its perch to one within my sight. The common scene would be, the bird do not come out on the surface. I am sure many times the birds were actually near - like within a 100 feet distance from me but clinging on the side of the tree trunk which was my blind spot. By the time, it finished its chore and made its appearance would also be the moment that it was flying off.