The southern sooty woodpecker (Mulleripicus fuliginosus) is a bird in the family Picidae. It is endemic to the Philippines on the islands of Mindanao, Leyte, and Samar. Its natural habitat is It is threatened by habitat loss.
| Southern sooty woodpecker | |
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| Male | |
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| Female | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Piciformes |
| Family: | Picidae |
| Genus: | Mulleripicus |
| Species: | M. fuliginosus
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| Binomial name | |
| Mulleripicus fuliginosus Tweeddale, 1877
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Description and taxonomy
editEBird describes the bird as "A large woodpecker of lowland forest in the southern Philippines. Overall sooty-gray with a fairly long pointed tail, fine speckling on the head, pale eyes, and an ivory-colored bill. Male has a red mark from the base of the bill to the cheek. Occurs together with Buff-spotted Flameback and White-bellied Woodpecker, but has a plain gray belly. Voice includes high-pitched chips and squeals."[2]
Both the southern sooty woodpecker and the northern sooty woodpecker were previously considered to be subspecies of the same species, Mulleripicus funebris, known simply as the "sooty woodpecker".[1] They were split as distinct species by the IOC in 2021.[3]
The Southern sooty differs from the Northern sooty with its light ashy gray plumage, its white ivory colored bill, the male's bright red mark on its cheek, larger white spots on its neck and face and slightly smaller size in comparison to its Northern counterpart's dark gray plumage and male's burgundy facial markings over its entire face.[4]
This species is monotypic and has no subspecies.
Ecology and behaviour
editNot much is known about this species, but it is presumed to feed on invertebrates including larvae feeding on dead wood. It is typically found singly or as a pair. It forages high up on tall trees.
The breeding season is reported as April to August in Samar and Leyte. Like all woodpeckers, this species is a cavity nester. A nest observed in April contained 2 chicks .[5][6]
Habitat and conservation status
editIts natural habitats are at tropical moist lowland primary forest up to 1,000 meters above sea level. They cannot seem to tolerate degraded habitats and secondary forest.[7]
The IUCN Red List has assessed this bird as vulnerable with the population believed to be on the decline. Its main threat is habitat destruction through both legal and Illegal logging, conversion into farmlands through Slash-and-burn, charcoal burning, and mining. Its preference for low altitudes suggests that it must have suffered population losses with the loss of lowland forest in the Philippines.
There are currently no species-specific conservation plans. It occurs in a few protected areas on Pasonanca Natural Park and Samar Island Natural Park. However, as with most areas in the Philippines, protection from hunting and illegal logging is lax.
Conservation actions proposed are surveys to assess the total population size and locate strongholds. Monitor habitat trends. Increase the area of primary forest in the species' range that receives effective protection. Carry out long term habitat restoration with native tree species.[8][5]
References
edit- ^ a b BirdLife International (2017). "Mulleripicus fuliginosus". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017. IUCN: e.T22727234A110053354. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-1.RLTS.T22727234A110053354.en. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
- ^ "Southern Sooty Woodpecker". Ebird.
- ^ "Species Updates – IOC World Bird List". Retrieved 2021-06-13.
- ^ del Hoyo, Josep; Collar, Nigel; Christie, David (2020). "Southern Sooty-Woodpecker (Mulleripicus fuliginosus), version 1.0". Birds of the World. doi:10.2173/bow.sousow1.01species_shared.bow.project_name. ISSN 2771-3105.
- ^ a b International), BirdLife International (BirdLife (2016-10-01). "IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Mulleripicus fuliginosus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved 2021-09-17.
- ^ "ML617815866 - Southern Sooty-Woodpecker - Macaulay Library". macaulaylibrary.org. 2024-04-22. Retrieved 2024-10-23.
- ^ Allen, Desmond (2020). Birds of the Philippines. Barcelona: Lynx and Birdlife International Guides. pp. 214–217.
- ^ Yang Bogang; Han Youmei (December 2012). "An efficent [sic] method to carry out special-shaped buildings post-construction survey". 2012 International Conference on Computer Vision in Remote Sensing. IEEE. pp. 168–172. doi:10.1109/cvrs.2012.6421254. ISBN 978-1-4673-1274-5. S2CID 16429703.