Little Green Woodpecker (Campathera maculosa)

Photo: INaturalist/oppiska

Little Green Woodpecker...also known as "the Yaffle"

A lunch-mate where I live asked me recently if I had heard of a woodpecker called a Yaffle.   I was baffled.   I checked my 'World Checklist of Birds' by Monroe and Sibley and then went online for more information.   The Yaffle or  Little Green Woodpecker (a.k.a. Golden-backed Woodpecker) is a species of bird in the family Picidae and found in west-central Africa.

The Little Green Woodpecker lives in forest edges and forest-shrub mosaics.  An old country name for the Little Green Woodpecker is 'Yaffle' because of the laughing sound it makes.   

It is one of approximately 250 woodpecker species in the world.   It is a small but fairly hardy species and its range is expanding in several African countries.   The IUCN has assessed the 'Yaffle' as a least-concern species. 

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder