Okinawa Woodpecker
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| Okinawa Woodpecker Conservation status: Critical | ||||||||||||||
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| Sapheopipo noguchii (Seebohm, 1887) |
The Okinawa Woodpecker (Sapheopipo noguchii) is a woodpecker endemic to the island of Okinawa in Japan. It is the only member of the genus Sapheopipo (Hargitt, 1890).
This is a medium-sized (31cm), dark woodpecker. It is dark brown in colour with reddish tips to its feathers. It has white spots on the primaries. The head is a paler brown, with a dark red crown on the male and a blackish-brown on the female.
Their breeding habitat is subtropical, evergreen broad-leaved forest of at least 30 years old, with tall trees of more than 20 cm in diameter. Nesting is between late February and May.
This woodpecker is critically endangered. It has a single tiny, declining population which is threatened by habitat loss of mature forest due to logging, dam construction, agriculture and golf course developments. The current population is estimated at less than 600.