Animalia > Chordata > Aves > Piciformes > Picidae > Geocolaptes > Geocolaptes olivaceusGeocolaptes olivaceus (Ground Woodpecker)The ground woodpecker (Geocolaptes olivaceus) is one of only three ground-dwelling woodpeckers in the world (the others are the Andean and Campo flickers). It inhabits rather barren, steep, boulder-strewn slopes in relatively cool hilly and mountainous areas of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland and has yet to be recorded outside of Southern Africa. It is found in a broad swath running from south-west to north-east, from the Cape Peninsula and Namaqualand to Mpumalanga. |
Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) Unique (100) Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) Unique & Vulnerable (100) ED Score: 7.55452 EDGE Score: 2.14646 |
| Adult Weight [1] | 126 grams | | Birth Weight [1] | 7.3 grams | | Male Weight [4] | 120 grams |  | | Diet [2] | Carnivore (Invertebrates) | | Diet - Invertibrates [2] | 100 % | | Forages - Understory [2] | 20 % | | Forages - Ground [2] | 80 % | | | Clutch Size [3] | 3 | | Snout to Vent Length [4] | 10 inches (26 cm) |
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| Name |
Countries |
Ecozone |
Biome |
Species |
Report |
Climate |
Land
Use |
|
Albany thickets |
South Africa |
Afrotropic |
Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands, and Scrub |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Drakensberg alti-montane grasslands and woodlands |
South Africa |
Afrotropic |
Montane Grasslands and Shrublands |
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Drakensberg montane grasslands, woodlands and forests |
South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho |
Afrotropic |
Montane Grasslands and Shrublands |
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Eastern Zimbabwe montane forest-grassland mosaic |
Zimbabwe, Mozambique |
Afrotropic |
Montane Grasslands and Shrublands |
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Highveld grasslands |
South Africa |
Afrotropic |
Montane Grasslands and Shrublands |
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|
Knysna-Amatole montane forests |
South Africa |
Afrotropic |
Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests |
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KwaZulu-Cape coastal forest mosaic |
South Africa |
Afrotropic |
Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests |
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|
Lowland fynbos and renosterveld |
South Africa |
Afrotropic |
Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands, and Scrub |
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|
Maputaland-Pondoland bushland and thickets |
South Africa |
Afrotropic |
Montane Grasslands and Shrublands |
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Montane fynbos and renosterveld |
South Africa |
Afrotropic |
Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands, and Scrub |
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Nama Karoo |
Namibia, South Africa |
Afrotropic |
Deserts and Xeric Shrublands |
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Southern Africa bushveld |
Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa |
Afrotropic |
Tropical and Subtropical Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands |
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Succulent Karoo |
Namibia, South Africa |
Afrotropic |
Deserts and Xeric Shrublands |
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| Name |
IUCN Category |
Area acres |
Location |
Species |
Website |
Climate |
Land Use |
|
Bontebok National Park |
II |
8315 |
Western Cape, South Africa |
|
 |
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Golden Gate Highlands National Park |
II |
28689 |
Free State, South Africa |
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Hlane Royal National Park |
VI |
30892 |
Swaziland |
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Itala Game Reserve Provincial Nature Reserve |
II |
72822 |
Kwazulu Natal, South Africa |
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Karoo National Park |
II |
190300 |
Western Cape, South Africa |
|
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Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve |
II |
256073 |
Western Cape, South Africa |
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Malolotja Nature Reserve |
IV |
42044 |
Swaziland |
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Mountain Zebra National Park |
II |
60944 |
Eastern Cape, South Africa |
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Richtersveld National Park |
II |
399195 |
Northern Cape, South Africa |
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Cape Peninsula National Park |
II |
70141 |
Western Cape, South Africa |
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Tsitsikamma National Park |
II |
34343 |
Southern Cape, South Africa |
|
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West Coast National Park |
II |
59916 |
Western Cape, South Africa |
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Wilderness National Park |
II |
5929 |
Western Cape, South Africa |
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| Name |
Location |
IBA Criteria |
Website |
Climate |
Land Use |
|
Amatole forest complex |
South Africa |
A1, A2, A3 |
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Anysberg Nature Reserve |
South Africa |
A1, A2, A3 |
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Chelmsford Nature Reserve |
South Africa |
A1, A4i |
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|
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Eastern False Bay mountains |
South Africa |
A1, A2, A3 |
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Golden Gate Highlands and Qwaqwa National Parks |
South Africa |
A1, A2, A3, A4i, A4ii |
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Grassland Biosphere Reserve (proposed) |
South Africa |
A1, A2, A3, A4i, A4ii, A4iii |
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Haramoep and Black Mountain Mine Nature Reserve |
South Africa |
A1, A2, A3 |
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Karoo National Park |
South Africa |
A1, A3, A4ii |
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Karoo Nature Reserve |
South Africa |
A1, A3, A4ii |
|
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Katberg: Readsdale forest complex |
South Africa |
A1, A2, A3 |
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Kouga: Baviaanskloof complex |
South Africa |
A1, A2, A3 |
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Liqobong |
Lesotho |
A1, A2, A3 |
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Mafika: Lisiu |
Lesotho |
A1, A2, A3, A4ii |
|
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Mahamba Mountain |
Swaziland |
A1, A3 |
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Malolotja Nature Reserve |
Swaziland |
A1, A2, A3 |
|
|
|
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Mattheus-Gat Conservation Area (proposed) |
South Africa |
A1, A2, A3 |
|
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Natal Drakensberg Park |
South Africa |
A1, A2, A3, A4i, A4ii |
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Outeniqua mountains |
South Africa |
A1, A2, A3 |
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Sehlabathebe National Park |
Lesotho |
A1, A2, A3 |
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Sehonghong and Matebeng |
Lesotho |
A1, A2, A3, A4ii |
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Southern Langeberg mountains |
South Africa |
A1, A2, A3 |
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Steenkampsberg |
South Africa |
A1, A2, A3, A4i, A4ii |
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Sterkfontein Dam Nature Reserve |
South Africa |
A1, A2, A3 |
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Sterkfontein/Merinodal |
South Africa |
A1, A2, A3, A4i |
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Swartberg mountains |
South Africa |
A1, A2, A3 |
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Umgeni Vlei Nature Reserve |
South Africa |
A1 |
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Upper Quthing Valley |
Lesotho |
A1, A2, A3, A4ii |
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Upper Senqu River |
Lesotho |
A1, A2, A3, A4ii |
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Voordeel Conservancy |
South Africa |
A1, A2, A3 |
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| Name |
Location |
Endemic |
Species |
Website |
|
Cape Floristic Region |
South Africa |
No |
|
|
|
Eastern Afromontane |
Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen, Zimbabwe |
No |
|
|
|
Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany |
Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland |
No |
|
|
|
Succulent Karoo |
Namibia, South Africa |
No |
|
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Attributes / relations provided by ♦ 1Terje Lislevand, Jordi Figuerola, and Tamás Székely. 2007. Avian body sizes in relation to fecundity, mating system, display behavior, and resource sharing. Ecology 88:1605 ♦ 2Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027 ♦ 3Jetz W, Sekercioglu CH, Böhning-Gaese K (2008) The Worldwide Variation in Avian Clutch Size across Species and Space PLoS Biol 6(12): e303. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060303 ♦ 4Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109 Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database |
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0
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