Newcomer woodpecker

 Ever since the sightings of at least five species of woodpeckers in the taman and the nestings of a couple of them, it is hoped that the taman would be able to live up to its unique reputation of being a woodpecker haunt.  And it looks like indeed it could, with the increasing sightings of a pair of Laced Woodpeckers here.

I finally managed to encounter the female after my memorable encounter of the male a couple of weeks ago.  As far as I know this is one woodpecker that loves to forage low at tree stump to high on the tree, and true to form this female suddenly did emerge from low on the ground to higher level, and back and forth, setting an initial giddy chase of zooming low and high!

And all worth it for the gorgeous bird with its olive-green upperparts and rich black crown to nape.

Unlike the other woodpecker species, this one also comes across with a preference for lurking in the darker lower areas.

But this time it kept to the upper canopy I guessed to avoid enthusiastic photographers hovering below.

Meanwhile news arrived that the male was spotted at the other end of the taman, and indeed it was but again for aforementioned reason, it kept to the upper canopy too.

The pair probably reunited when the female eventually arrived at the same area, and both cleverly managed to stay out of sight by now.

The elusive woodpecker, till now

 When this woodpecker flew in, low, it immediately set my antenna pinging.  It has to be the one that I longed to sight in the taman ever since I heard of its visit years back.  And there is only one woodpecker I know that loves to forage low like this.

It's an occasional visitor to the taman and lucky were those who have sighted it before.  And at last for me, finally another monkey off my back!

The Laced Woodpecker (Picus vittatus) of Least Concern status in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is more easily spotted in mangroves and wooded areas such as forest edge.  

However it's believed that these woodpeckers have been visiting this taman because of the adjacent river along which they follow to and from their typical habitats.

And the drama has just begun when this male decided to forage even lower, down to a fallen branch.

But looked like it's not alone.

Its presence had attracted a resident of the taman.

But it looked like the Tree Shrew was not the only one who's aware of this visitor.

Like the Tree Shrew I too was in the dark who the other was.

The Tree Shrew looked like it wished it wasn't there!

The other party was still out of sight, and when I fired off the following shot (unfortunately the last one), another aggressor, a Plantain Squirrel, suddenly appeared to the right of the Woodpecker which instantly sent it fleeing.  Talk about the aggressor's element of surprise, and so, alas, a tale cut short!