EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

A High Plateau Groundpecker

Hume's Groundpecker (Pseudopodoces humilis), Family Paridae
Tibetan High Plateau, Tibet

Explanation:  You might have heard of woodpeckers, but ... groundpeckers?  

Well, look again ... nicely blended into its rocky background is this unassuming bird, the Hume's Groundpecker. 

Also known as the Ground Tit, Tibetan Ground-tit, and Hume's Ground-tit, it was also previously called the Tibetan Ground Jay and Humes' Ground Jay when it was thought to belong to the crow and jay family (Corvidae).  

It does not.

Confused?  So have been ornithologists.  Until they performed genetic testing to discover that it actually belongs to the family of chickadees, titmice, tits, and others ... many, if not most, of which are arboreal and inhabit the leafy canopies of shrubs and trees.

But this Hume's Groundpecker is terrestrial, particularly here on the stark plateau plains of the Tibet steppe country.  The species is nicely secure, with an IUCN Red List rating of "Least Concern."