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The woodpecker is a family of birds found in most temperate and tropical parts of the world. That having been said, however, you will not find them in Australia, Polynesia or Madagascar. Malaysia boasts about thirty species of woodpecker. This family of birds is referred to generically by the Malay people as ‘belatok.’
Even though they occur in great variety, the woodpecker family displays a surprising conformity when it comes to looks and habits. They have a strong, chisel shaped bill, a stiff shafted and wedge shaped tail and a long, worm like tongue. The tongue is a useful tool for gathering up insects. It can be protruded for quite some length and has a sticky surface as a result of the secretion of fluids from the salivary glands.
The foot of the Malayan Woodpecker has four toes. The foot is perfectly adapted to the requirements of a climbing bird. It has two toes that are directed to the front and another two directed to the back. This enables the bird to climb from near the base of a tree trunk, and quietly work its way up to the top, going round and round the trunk as it progresses up the tree. The stiff tail is pressed fanwise against the bark to provide added support. As it makes its journey, the woodpecker will occasionally stop to search for food in the bark. This is when it will make the well known tapping sound with which has so long been associated.
The woodpecker does not have a musical voice. It, rather, emits something of a scream. Some species give a sound that reminds one of a pony neighing while others will repeat a single, shrill note rapidly five or six times. The bird mainly feeds on ants and other small insects. These are mostly wood boring insects which the woodpecker finds on its tree journeys. Most species of woodpecker will lay their eggs in a small hole in a tree.
The Malayan Rufous Woodpecker is distinctive in that its feet and beak are slaty in color, the bird is of a dull rufous color, bared on the back and the wings, tail and abdomen are black. All of these things make the rufous easily identifiable and quite unlike the other Malayan Woodpeckers. Its total length is about eight inches and the wing span is about nine inches. It is a bird that will appear frequently in gardens. An interesting aspect of its behaviour is that it will make its own nest in the middle of the nest of the tree ant. The ants will form a large, black nest in a tree only to have the woodpecker come along and dig out a burrow in the middle of their nest and transplant his own nest on the site. The woodpecker now has a ready food supply on his very doorstep.
The Malayan Pigmy Woodpecker is a tiny bird about the size of a sparrow. The plumage of the female is entirely black and white. The male can be distinguished by a tiny red fleck behind the eye. The top of the head is black, with the underparts being a dirty white with dark streaks. The back and wings are black with broad, white bars. The beak is slaty in color with the feet being grayish green. The Malayan Pigmy Woodpecker is about five inches in length with the wing being about two and a half inches long. The Pigmy is the most commonly seen bird around Singapore and Malaysia. It is a shy little bird. Its small size makes it rather difficult to spot. It can, however, be seen creeping around the trunks of heavily foliaged trees.
The Malayan Black Woodpecker is perhaps the largest of the Malay Woodpeckers. The male is black with a white belly and a bright red head. This bird is numerous on the Dutch islands to the south of Singapore and in Malaysia.
The Crimson Winged Green Woodpecker is much like the rufous woodpecker except that it has green underparts.
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