Thirty-four species recorded in India, from the tiny piculets — barely bigger than a sunbird, working thin twigs rather than trunks — up to the crow-sized Great Slaty Woodpecker, which moves through the forest in noisy family parties. In between sits the bulk of the family: black-and-white or golden-backed birds that announce themselves by sound before sight, drumming on dead wood to claim territory and calling sharply as they work up a trunk in short hitching hops, always bracing on the stiff tail feathers for support.
Most of the India list is a Himalayan and hill-forest story — species sort out by elevation and forest type more than by region, so several similar-looking black, white and red birds replace each other going up a single hillside. Wryneck is the family's outlier: no black-and-white plumage, no drumming, no chisel bill — a cryptically patterned, snake-necked bird that behaves more like a warbler and is easy to overlook entirely.
34Species in India
2Photographed
Trunks and dead woodWhere to look
Drumming and sharp callsHow to find them
Similar species sort by elevationField ID problem
The species
Eurasian Wryneck
Jynx torquilla2 frames
Status
Winter visitor across much of India; some breeding in the western Himalaya
Range
Widespread in winter across the plains and peninsula; breeds at mid to high elevation in the western Himalaya
Habitat
Open woodland, scrub, orchards, field edges and reedy margins, often foraging on the ground
IUCN
Least Concern
A woodpecker in name and family only: the wryneck perches crosswise on a branch like a songbird, has a soft, unbraced tail and a short, pointed bill, and does not drum. What it has instead is some of the most cryptic plumage on the Indian list, a fine grey-brown mottling and barring with a dark line running through the eye and back down the neck, and a buff, finely barred throat. It feeds largely on ants, picking them from the ground and from bark, and gets its name from a defensive display in which it twists the head and neck slowly while hissing.
FM0311
Nov 2017Osman Sagar, Ranga Reddy, TelanganaPerched side-on on a dry reed stem, finely barred and mottled plumage in warm light.
The Himalaya from Himachal Pradesh east through Arunachal Pradesh, mid to high elevation
Habitat
Moist broadleaf and mixed forest, favouring moss- and lichen-covered trunks
IUCN
Least Concern
A mid-sized black-and-white woodpecker with an unstreaked whitish belly washed buff, a black crown and cheek stripe framing a warm orange-buff face patch, and bold white barring across the wings. The crown in this frame shows no red, which usually points to a female or immature bird rather than an adult male; worth Fareed's own check against the frame.
FM0255
Mar 2024Singchung Bugun Village Community Reserve (SBVCR), West Kameng, Arunachal PradeshPerched on a lichen-draped branch, head raised and bill lifted into early light.
