Voice
A loud, nasal, 'keeenk-keeenk-keenk', a harsh 'tu-wic, tu-wic t-wic ti-wicca', and shrill rattling notes. Drumming is brief, up to five seconds, starting rapidly but sonn slowing., repeated every 2 - 3 minutes.
Rufous Woodpecker (Micropternus brachyurus) [XC18882]
by Martjan Lammertink from Sungai Wain Protection Forest, East Kalimantan, Borneo, Indonesia (call)
Rufous Woodpecker (Micropternus brachyurus) [XC566711]
by Ding Li Yong from Geragai, Kabupaten Tanjung Jabung Timur, Jambi, Indonesia (call)
Subspecies
Proposed subspecies badius (Sumatra) and celaenephis (Nias I) inseparable from continental squamigularis.
The following 11 subspecies are recognised:
humei Kloss, 1918 - Northern India (Himachal Pradesh) east to to western Nepal.
jerdonii (Malherbe, 1849) - Western India (southern from southern Gujarat) south to Sri Lanka.
phaioceps (Blyth, 1845) - Central Nepal and eastern India east to south-eastern Tibet, Myanmar and southern China (western and southern Yunnan) and south to southern Thailand.
fokiensis (Swinhoe, 1863) - Southern and south-eastern China and northern Vietnam.