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The Bearded Woodpecker, known scientifically as Chloropicus namaquus, is a striking bird, one of the largest woodpeckers in Africa, reaching a length of about 25 cm. It boasts a black and white head with a brownish barred body, making it quite the sight to behold.
To identify the Bearded Woodpecker, look for its distinctive black moustache, broad black eye-stripe, and black crown, which are set against a white supercilium, face, chin, and throat. The male is adorned with a red hind crown, absent in the female. The mantle is black, while the upper parts are yellowish-brown with narrow white barring. The tail is brown, barred with white, and the underparts are grey, also with narrow white barring. The beak is large and greyish-black, the legs are grey, and the eyes are a striking red. Juveniles resemble adults but have a greenish tinge to their upper parts and more diffuse barring, with both sexes displaying some red on the crown and nape.
The Bearded Woodpecker is found in a variety of habitats, including woodlands with sizeable trees, Brachystegia woodland, Euphorbia and Acacia woodland, as well as the fringes of gallery forests and brushland. It thrives from the lowlands to altitudes of about 3,000 m.
This bird's range extends across tropical central Africa, including Angola, Botswana, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
