Dendropicos elachus

The male has a brown-white forehead, white eyes, eyebrows, cheeks, and ear feathers. The top of the head is black with blue luster. The pillow has a bright red spot, and the hind pillow has a narrow black transverse band. The back and sides of the neck are white, forming a white collar. Shoulder white, back bright black, waist dark brown with white end spots; The two wings are black, the wing edge is white, and the flying feathers have square or nearly square white patches, and the inner wings cover the feathers and the large cover feathers are white, forming a nearly round large white spot on the inside of the wings. Central tail feathers black brown, lateral tail feathers white with black stripes. The zygomatic veins are broad and black, and are divided backward into upper and lower branches, the upper branch extending behind the head, and the other one extending downward to the chest side.

The small gray woodpecker is found in central and southern Africa, including the southern Arabian Peninsula and the entire African continent south of the Sahara Desert (Tropic of Cancer).