Little Green Woodpecker

Little Green Woodpecker

Campethera maculosa

Silhouette: Pepe Reigada · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability <5% · Rare
at Masai Mara National Reserve

In 3 days ~10%

77 Verified sightings at Masai Mara National Reserve From 2019 to 2026
218 In all 7 parks
November Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Little Green Woodpecker

The little green woodpecker, or green-backed woodpecker (Campethera maculosa) is a species of bird in the family Picidae. It is widely distributed in tropical Africa, living in forest edges, clearings, and forest-shrub mosaics. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed it as a least-concern species.

The little green woodpecker was formally described in 1826 as Picus maculosa from Senegal by the French zoologist Achille Valenciennes. The specific epithet is Latin meaning "spotted". The little green woodpecker is now one of ten species placed in the genus Campethera that was introduced in 1841 by the English zoologist George Robert Gray.

Five subspecies are recognised: C... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Call1:12

Guinea-Bissau · 2019

© Antonio Xeira · XC705268 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Drumming0:35

Ghana · 2021

© Brendan Sloan · XC689820 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Recording0:08

Gabon · 2021

© bureaubenjamin · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Mikumi National Park 🇹🇿 Tanzania
~10%
2 Lake Mburo National Park 🇺🇬 Uganda
~10%
3 Kafue National Park 🇿🇲 Zambia
<5%
4 Gorongosa National Park 🇲🇿 Mozambique
<5%
5 Masai Mara National Reserve 🇰🇪 Kenya
<5%
6 Akagera National Park 🇷🇼 Rwanda
<5%
7 Queen Elizabeth National Park 🇺🇬 Uganda
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Kigali 🇷🇼 Rwanda
<5%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Little Green Woodpecker in Masai Mara National Reserve?

Rare

Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Little Green Woodpecker sighting in Masai Mara National Reserve on a given day, based on 77 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 266th most-seen of the 398 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Little Green Woodpecker in Masai Mara National Reserve?

Any time of year

In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Little Green Woodpecker in Masai Mara National Reserve on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.

What time of day is best to see a Little Green Woodpecker?

Between 7 and 10 am

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Little Green 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.

Is Masai Mara National Reserve the best place to see a Little Green Woodpecker?

5th of 7

Of the 7 parks where we can rate Little Green Woodpecker sightings, Masai Mara National Reserve ranks 5th at under 5%. The best odds are in Mikumi National Park (Tanzania, about 10%), Lake Mburo National Park (Uganda, about 10%) and Kafue National Park (Zambia, under 5%).

Where does the Little Green Woodpecker sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Little Green Woodpecker is recorded against all the birds logged in Masai Mara National Reserve (77 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.

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