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Brown-capped Pygmy Woodpecker Index Declined 44.2% Long Term in India, While Recent Trend Was Unclear

Brown-capped pygmy woodpecker clinging to a tree trunk at Kattampally, India
Conservation · Population & status

The 2025 interim update from State of India’s Birds reported revised national trend estimates for the brown-capped pygmy woodpecker (Yungipicus nanus) in India. The numerical update was released on 6 May 2026 from the project’s updated eBird-based dataset.

The long-term numerical estimate was −44.2% and clearly supported a long-term decline. The current annual estimate was +0.31% per year, but its uncertainty was too broad to establish a clear recent increase or decline. The carried-over national 2023 categories are Decline for the long-term trend and Trend Inconclusive for the current trend; these labels were not recalculated from the 2025 numerical estimates.

The species’ modelled distribution range in India was estimated at 785,005 km². State of India’s Birds describes the brown-capped pygmy woodpecker as a resident forest-and-plantation specialist restricted to the Indian Subcontinent and places it in the Moderate conservation-priority category.

The interim release updated numerical range and trend estimates for 942 previously assessed species using approximately 48 million eBird observations submitted through 31 May 2025. The trend values describe change in a reporting-based abundance index rather than direct counts of individual birds. The assessment categories themselves were not recalculated in this update.

Sources and image credit

  1. State of India’s Birds Partnership. (2026). State of India’s Birds: Range, trends, and conservation status (Version 2) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20036633Primary 2026 dataset release created 6 May 2026. Version 2 updated numerical distribution range size, long-term trend and current annual trend values for 942 previously evaluated species using approximately 48 million eBird observations through 31 May 2025; the assessment categories were unchanged.
  2. State of India’s Birds Partnership. (2025). State of India’s Birds factsheet: Brown-capped Pygmy Woodpecker (Yungipicus nanus), Jammu and Kashmir.The Jammu and Kashmir page’s 2025 table displays the India-wide numerical values alongside state estimates: India long-term trend −44.20% (−55.56 to −28.95), current annual trend +0.31% (−1.22 to +1.83), and distribution range 785,005 km² (784,392–785,618). The assessment categories at the top of this page refer to Jammu and Kashmir, not the national India assessment.
  3. SoIB. (2023). State of India’s Birds, 2023: Range, trends, and conservation status. The SoIB Partnership. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11124589Primary national assessment whose categories remain in force in the 2025 numerical update: Brown-capped Pygmy Woodpecker is Moderate Priority, with Decline as the long-term category and Trend Inconclusive as the current annual category.

Image: afsarnayakkan / Wikimedia Commons — brown-capped pygmy woodpecker (Yungipicus nanus) at Kattampally, Kannur, Kerala, India; cropped to 16:9 from the original. Representative image for this story; not presented as an animal or scene from the reported study or event. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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