Breeding biology of scaly-bellied woodpecker,Picus squamatus,in Margalla Hills National Park,Pakistan

The study was designed to investigate the breeding biology of scaly-bellied woodpecker (picus squamatus) in margalla hills national park (mhnp),pakistan. ten active nests were located on tree trunks and out of these five successful nests were made at 1-3 meters,2 at 5.1-7 meters,1 at 9.1-11 and two were made at 13.1-15 meter height. scaly-bellied woodpecker nests were built on chir pine pinus roxburghii 13 (46%) and paper mulberry broussonetia papyrifera 15 (54%) in mhnp. the clutch size was 4-6 and incubation period 16-17 days. fifty threee eggs were laid in the active nests,42 (79.25%) hatched,7 (13.21%) eggs were infertile and 4 (7.54%) eggs were destroyed. out of 42 nestlings,36 (85.71%) fledged and remaining 6 (14.29%) were lost. no predation was recorded in the present study. the body weight of nestlings up to five days was recorded as 10,16,22,30 and 36 g on the 1-5th day of hatching. this is the first ever report on the breeding biology of scaly-bellied woodpecker population present in margalla hills national park,pakistan. copyright 2015 zoological society of pakistan.