Dendropicos namaquus
The Bearded Woodpecker inhabits savannas and woodlands with tall trees, where it forages (it rarely descends to ground level) by tapping on branches and probing in crevices and behind bark for insects and spiders and the occasional lizard or gecko.
Adult Bearded Woodpeckers form permanent pairs that occupy the same home range year round. During the breeding season, which stretches from autumn to early summer, they both work at excavating their nest in the trunk of a tree. The nest may be between 30 and 50cm deep and it could take more than a month to complete. Here they incubate their clutch of 1-3 eggs over a period of roughly 2 weeks. Both parents feed the chicks at the nest until they fledge at about a month of age, though they may remain with their parents for a period of up to 2 months after leaving the nest. Fully grown they weigh around 80g and measure around 24cm in length, making them the largest arboreal woodpecker in the country.
The IUCN considers the Bearded Woodpecker to be of least concern. In South Africa it occurs mainly from Kwazulu-Natal, through Mpumalanga, Gauteng and Limpopo to the eastern parts of the North West Province, and beyond our borders is found as far northward as Sudan.
DeWetsWild 
Nou soek ek die baard – en wonder waarom die bearded? Het ek iets mis gelees in jou artikel. Eerste foto is pragtig.
Mens moet hom mooi van voor af sien, Elsabe, om te waardeer hoe die swart streep met die onderkaak en keel langs tot op die bors dit soos n baard laat lyk!
He looks like a cross between our Hairy Woodpeckers and our Sapsuckers. 🙂
“Sapsucker” still sounds like a terrible insult to me! 😆
Especially when you put “Yellow-bellied” in front of it!
Oh my goodness, yes! Poor bird!
I am impressed with your photographs! Usually the woodpeckers do their best to scuttle away from me. Will show you some Green Woodpeckers later – co-operatively visiting the lawn in an English garden 🙂
Thank you, Anne, and I can’t wait to see what those Green Woodpeckers look like!
Gereeld hul gesien in die Bosveld. Baie bedreiwige voëls.
Hulle is nogal volop daar in die Waterberge se wêreld!
Beslis ja. Ek het ‘n jaar op ‘n plaas skool gehou waar ons tussen die bome en bosse was. Die houtkappers was gedurig besig in die bome. Het selfs bobbejane gehad wat wou kom inloer tot kinders se plesier. Selfs ‘n eekhoring wat op die balke in klas vir ons gesit en kyk het. Dis ‘n lang storie.
Dit is dalk moeilik om te glo, maar ek het nog nooit ‘n houtkapper gesien nie 👀. Die enetjie met die rooi koppie is nogal mooi. Daardie bekkies moet skerp wees om ‘n nes in die boomstam te kap … ek neem aan dis nie sulke harde boomstamme nie?
Gewoonlik is dit maar verrotte hout waarin hulle na goggas soek, maar die nes word gewoonlik in stewige hout uitgekap – dié dat dit so labk neem!
I love woodpeckers and how they can just hang upside down while eating. 🙂
Their claws must be so sharp, and their toes so strong, to be able to do that!