Silhouette: Pepe Reigada · PhyloPic
Gecinulus rafflesii
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The olive-backed woodpecker (Gecinulus rafflesii) is a species of bird in the woodpecker family Picidae that is found in Southeast Asia. The olive-backed woodpecker was described by the Irish zoologist Nicholas Aylward Vigors in 1830 from a specimen collected by Stamford Raffles. Vigors coined the binomial name Picus rafflesii, with the specific epithet chosen to honour the memory of Raffles. The type location is Sumatra. The species was then placed in the genus Dinopium that was introduced by the French polymath Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1814.
A large phylogenetic study of the woodpecker family Picidae published in 2017 found that the olive-backed woodpecker (Gecinulus rafflesii) is more closely related to the pale-headed woodpecker (Gecinulus grantia). It may, therefore, be more appropriately assigned to the genus Chloropicoides.
Two subspecies are recognised: The side of the head has two black... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Way Kambas National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 2 | Taman Negara National Park | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 3 | Sepilok | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 4 | Danum Valley Conservation Area | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 5 | Kinabalu Park | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 6 | Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 7 | Kaeng Krachan National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Olive-Backed Woodpecker sighting in Kinabalu Park on a given day, based on 33 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 152nd most-seen of the 247 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Olive-Backed Woodpecker in Kinabalu Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Olive-Backed Woodpecker sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
5th of 7
Of the 7 parks where we can rate Olive-Backed Woodpecker sightings, Kinabalu Park ranks 5th at under 5%. The best odds are in Way Kambas National Park (Indonesia, about 10%), Taman Negara National Park (Malaysia, under 5%) and Sepilok (Malaysia, under 5%).
Same family: Picidae
The closest relatives of the Olive-Backed Woodpecker that you can see in Kinabalu Park (family Picidae, Woodpeckers) are Maroon Woodpecker (about 20%) and Checker-throated Woodpecker (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Olive-Backed Woodpecker is recorded against all the birds logged in Kinabalu Park (33 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
