Scientific name: Dendropicos griseocephalus
The Olive Woodpecker's head, bill and throat,is coloured grey. The male has red hindcrown and nape feathers often with some fine black subterminal bars and grey bases often evident in worn plumage. The male has physical features that are slightly different from the female bird.
The Olive Woodpecker is endemic to South Africa, occurring along the escarpment and southern coast. It generally prefers evergreen forest, occasionally venturing into fynbos and suburban gardens. It forages in the upper canopies of trees, probing pecking branches, and licking them up with its barbed tongue. Both sexes excavate the nest, which is usually a oval-shaped hole in the trunk of a tree. Here it lays 2-3 eggs, which are incubated by both sexes, for roughly 15-16 days. The chicks are cared for by both parents, leaving the nest at about 24-26 days old. The juveniles return to the nest to roost for about 3 months, at which point they become fully independent.
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