Nubian Woodpecker

Nubian Woodpecker

Campethera nubica

Silhouette: Pepe Reigada · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability <5% · Rare
at Nairobi

In 3 days <5%

5 Verified sightings at Nairobi
3,493 In all 23 parks From 2019 to 2026
August Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Nubian Woodpecker

The Nubian woodpecker (Campethera nubica) is a species of bird in the family Picidae. It is distributed widely in Central and Eastern Africa, from Chad in west to Somalia in east and Tanzania in south. It is a fairly common species with a wide range, the population seems stable, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as being of "least concern".

The Nubian woodpecker was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1780 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux from a specimen collected in Nubia. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Picus nubicus in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées. The Nubian woodpecker is now placed in the genus Campethera that was introduced by the English zoologist George Robert Gray in 1841. The generic name combines the... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Alarm call0:12

Kenya · 2026

© He Wenjin · XC1169800 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Drumming0:17

Uganda · 2025

© Bernard BOUSQUET · XC1058724 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Call0:12

Kenya · 2022

© Lars Lachmann · XC750361 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Meru National Park 🇰🇪 Kenya
~40%
2 Ruaha National Park 🇹🇿 Tanzania
~40%
3 Samburu National Reserve 🇰🇪 Kenya
~40%
4 Tsavo West National Park 🇰🇪 Kenya
~30%
5 Tarangire National Park 🇹🇿 Tanzania
~30%
6 Lake Mburo National Park 🇺🇬 Uganda
~30%
7 Tsavo East National Park 🇰🇪 Kenya
~20%
8 Mkomazi National Park 🇹🇿 Tanzania
~20%
9 Kidepo Valley National Park 🇺🇬 Uganda
~20%
10 Lake Nakuru National Park 🇰🇪 Kenya
~20%
11 Murchison Falls National Park 🇺🇬 Uganda
~20%
12 Serengeti National Park 🇹🇿 Tanzania
~10%
13 Awash National Park 🇪🇹 Ethiopia
~10%
14 Queen Elizabeth National Park 🇺🇬 Uganda
~10%
15 Amboseli National Park 🇰🇪 Kenya
~10%
16 Arusha National Park 🇹🇿 Tanzania
~10%
17 Ngorongoro Conservation Area 🇹🇿 Tanzania
~10%
18 Nairobi National Park 🇰🇪 Kenya
~10%
19 Lake Manyara National Park 🇹🇿 Tanzania
~10%
20 Masai Mara National Reserve 🇰🇪 Kenya
~10%
21 Mikumi National Park 🇹🇿 Tanzania
<5%
22 Kibale National Park 🇺🇬 Uganda
<5%
23 Bwindi Impenetrable National Park 🇺🇬 Uganda
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Mombasa 🇰🇪 Kenya
~10%
2 Addis Ababa 🇪🇹 Ethiopia
<5%
3 Nairobi 🇰🇪 Kenya
<5%
4 Kampala 🇺🇬 Uganda
<5%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Nubian Woodpecker in Nairobi?

Rare

Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Nubian Woodpecker sighting in Nairobi on a given day, based on 5 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 224th most-seen of the 234 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Nubian Woodpecker in Nairobi?

Any time of year

In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Nubian Woodpecker in Nairobi on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.

What time of day is best to see a Nubian Woodpecker?

Between 3 and 6 pm

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Nubian Woodpecker sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.

Is Nairobi the best place to see a Nubian Woodpecker?

3rd of 4

Of the 4 cities where we can rate Nubian Woodpecker sightings, Nairobi ranks 3rd at under 5%. The best odds are in Mombasa (Kenya, about 10%) and Addis Ababa (Ethiopia, under 5%).

Where does the Nubian Woodpecker sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Nubian Woodpecker is recorded against all the birds logged in Nairobi (5 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.

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