Winners Photography Awards 2008
White-bellied Woodpecker by Dinesh Kumble
The White-bellied Woodpecker Dryocopus javensis is found in evergreen and moist deciduous stretches of the Western Ghats. It is the largest of the Asiatic woodpeckers that nests in large, dead trees on riverbanks. It is an indicator of the health of the forest habitat as it cannot survive in new plantations, or forests where the Forest Department has removed ‘old and useless’ trees.