Yungipicus moluccensis
Silhouette: Pepe Reigada · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The Sunda pygmy woodpecker (Yungipicus moluccensis), also known as the Sunda woodpecker, is a species of bird in the family Picidae. It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Some taxonomic authorities continue to place this species in the genus Dendrocopos or Picoides.
The Sunda pygmy woodpecker was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the other woodpeckers in the genus Picus and coined the binomial name Picus moluccensis. Gmelin based his description on "Le petit épeiche brun des Moluques" that had been described in 1780 by the French polymath Comte de Buffon in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux. The locality was originally specified as the Maluku Islands. This was an error and has been corrected to the state of Malacca in Malaysia. The Sunda pygmy woodpecker is now one of seven species placed in the genus Yungipicus that was introduced in 1854 by Charles Lucien Bonaparte.
Two subspecies are recognised: Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Way Kambas National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 2 | Komodo National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 3 | Gunung Leuser National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 4 | Sepilok | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 5 | Bali Barat National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 6 | Kerinci Seblat National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 7 | Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 8 | Danum Valley Conservation Area | 🇲🇾 Malaysia |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jakarta | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 2 | Johor Bahru | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 3 | Singapore | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 4 | Kuching | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 5 | Yogyakarta | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 6 | Kuala Lumpur | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 7 | Denpasar | 🇮🇩 Indonesia |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker sighting in Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary on a given day, based on 17 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 189th most-seen of the 231 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 a Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker in Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 2 and 5 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker sightings with a recorded time, and about half of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
7th of 8
Of the 8 parks where we can rate Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker sightings, Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary ranks 7th at under 5%. The best odds are in Way Kambas National Park (Indonesia, about 40%), Komodo National Park (Indonesia, about 20%) and Gunung Leuser National Park (Indonesia, about 10%).
Same family: Picidae
The closest relatives of the Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker that you can see in Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary (family Picidae, Woodpeckers) are Great Slaty Woodpecker (about 10%), White-bellied Woodpecker (about 10%) and Banded Woodpecker (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker is recorded against all the birds logged in Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary (17 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.
