Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker (Picoides kizuki)

Other Names (World)
Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker, Pygmy Woodpecker, Japanese Spotted Woodpecker, Japanese Woodpecker(!)

Family
Picidae (Woodpeckers)

Size
13 - 15 cm

First Described (Guide)
(Temminck, 1836)

Habitat
Lowland to subalpine woodland to about 2100 m, various forest types, and also riparian thickets, scrubs, urban gardens and parks.

Range (Guide)

China (mainland) (B) (R) (NB), Japan (B) (R) (NB), North Korea (R), Russia (Asian) (B) (R) (NB), South Korea (B) (R) (NB).

Southern Russian Far East, Sakhalin, South Kuril Island, Japan, Korea and north-eastern China.

Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).

Status LC
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Habits
Often in mixed species flocks.

Voice
A sharp 'khit' or 'khit-khit-khit' uttered frequently. Also a highly distinctive buzzy 'kzzz kzzz' or an agitated 'kikikiki'. Drumming is very faint.

Xeno-Canto Sound Files (more (51)...)

Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker (Yungipicus kizuki) [XC194382]
by Albert Lastukhin from Seocheon-gun, Chungcheongnam-do, South Korea (call)

Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker (Yungipicus kizuki) [XC286180]
by Oscar Campbell from Amami forest, south-east part of Amami, Japan (call)

Subspecies
Has been thought to form a superspecies with Grey-capped Woodpecker (Picoides canicapillus), although their ranges overlap rather extensively in north-eastern Asia. Varies clinally, becoming smaller and darker from north to south. Described mainland subspecies permutatus (Sidemi, in Ussuriland), wilderi (north-eastern Hebei) and acutirostris (eastern Korea), and island subspecies kurilensis (Kuril Is), nippon (Honshu), shikokuensis (SHonshu and Shikoku), matsudairai (Izu Is), kotataki (Oki and Tsushima), nigrescens (Okinawa) and orii (Iriomote in southern Ryukyus), all considered insufficiently distinct.

The following 11 subspecies are recognised:

ijimae (Temminck, 1836) - South-eastern Siberia (southern Ussuriland) and Sakhalin south to north-eastern Korea, northern Japan (Hokkaido) and southern Kuril Is.
seebohmi Hargitt, 1884 - Korea (except north-east), Quelpart I (Cheju-do) and Honshu.
kizuki (Temminck, 1836) - North-eastern China (south to Shandong), and southern Japan including Tsushima, Shikoku, Kyushu, Izu Is, and southern Ryukyu Is (south to Iriomote).
amamii Kuroda, Nagamichi, 1922 - Amami and Tokunoshima in northern Ryukyus.
permutatus (Meise, 1934) - North-eastern China, south-eastern Siberia and northern Korea.
nippon Kuroda, Nagamichi, 1922 - Esst-central China, South Korea, Honshu (Japan).
shikokuensis Kuroda, Nagamichi, 1922 - South-western Honshu and Shikoku (Japan).
matsudairai Kuroda, Nagamichi, 1921 - Yakushima and Izu Is. (Japan).
kotataki Kuroda, Nagamichi, 1922 - Tsushima and Oki Is. (Japan).
nigrescens Seebohm, 1887 - Okinawa (Ryukyu Is., Japan).
orii Kuroda, Nagamichi, 1923 - Iriomote (Ryukyu Is., Japan).

References
See References.

Files:

JPG files for Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker (Picoides kizuki) - 10 files

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