Scientific name: Campethera notata
This species is distinguished from the other South African woodpeckers by its thickly spotted under-surface which is covered black spots from the chin to the vent. Males and females differ slightly. Males have an olive green color above with indistinct, small transverse bars and a few diamond-shaped sub-terminal spots that are a paler olive yellow. The female Knysna is similar to the male, but the black head is spotted with white and only the occiput is scarlet.The tail is olive-brown shaded with an almost green color and crossed with six bars of an almost yellow color. Its head is a gray-black color and all of the feathers on it are tipped with scarlet. The occipital crest (located at the base of the cranium) is completely bright scarlet in color. The ear-coverts are whitish and streaked with black, while the fore parts of its cheeks are scarlet. The rest of the sides of its face and neck are yellowish white, thickly mottled with black. The underside of its body is yellowish, but white on the throat, and, as mentioned above, thickly spotted. These spots are rounded and very large on the breast, but more diamond-shaped on the abdomen.
Endemic to South Africa, occurring around the coast of the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and small parts of KwaZulu-Natal. It generally prefers thornveld, euphorbia thickets, riparian woodland, coastal White milkwood (Sideroxylon inerme) thickets and montane forests, rarely venturing into tall protea thickets and alien tree plantations.
Mainly eats ants and termites, as well as their eggs and pupae, foraging at all levels of the tree canopy. It typically works its way along branches, pecking, gleaning and probing in search of prey.
