African piculet greyish-green or olive-green crown whereas the forehead in the female is the same colour as the crown. The rest of the upper parts are rather dark green tinged with yellow. The wings and tail are brownish-black. The throat and breast are darkish grey and the belly is a slightly paler grey. The beak is black, the eye red and the legs reddish. The juvenile is similar to the adult but has grey or buffy tones mixed into the general hue of the plumage. The habitat of the African piculet is mainly lowland secondary forest. It is an active bird often
White-barred piculet and heavily degraded former forest. The white-barred piculet was first described in 1825 by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck. It was given the name "Picumnus cirratus", the specific name meaning "curly headed", "cirrus" being Latin for a ringlet or curl. Molecular studies show that it is the sister species to "P. temminckii" and also closely related to "P. dorbignyanus", and at different times these species have been treated as synonymous. Six subspecies are recognised; "P. c. confusus" found in southwestern Guyana, northern Brazil and French Guiana; the Marajo piculet, "P. c. macconnelli" found in the eastern Amazon region of