Woodhouse's antpecker explained

Woodhouse's antpecker (Parmoptila woodhousei) is an unusual bird species of estrildid finch of uncertain affinities. The name commemorates the American explorer and collector Samuel Washington Woodhouse.

Description

The male has a bright red fore crown, brown under parts, the adult female is brown above with a rufous-brown wash to the throat and scaled brown and white from the breast to the vent.

Distribution and habitat

Woodhouse's antpecker inhabits subtropical or tropical lowland moist forest at Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda. It is found in forest from 700-1800 m, where it actively forages in tangled vines and creepers in the undergrowth. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 190,000 km2.

In Uganda it can be seen in Budongo Central Forest Reserve within the Nature Reserve known as N15 (Nyakafunjo Block 15).