What is a great spotted woodpecker?
The great spotted woodpecker ( Dendrocopos major) is a medium-sized woodpecker with pied black and white plumage and a red patch on the lower belly. Males and young birds also have red markings on the neck or head. This species is found across the Palearctic including parts of North Africa.
What is the difference between male and female great spotted woodpeckers?
Female great spotted woodpeckers are similar but lack the red patch on the back of the nape. Juveniles are duller and browner with blotchy patches on the wings. Both sexes have some red on the crown. Great spotted woodpeckers start breeding in mid-April and produce 1 brood a season.
How territorial are spotted woodpeckers?
Great spotted woodpeckers are strongly territorial, typically occupying areas of about 5 ha (12 acres) year-round, which are defended mainly by the male, a behaviour which attracts females.
Are there red and white spotted woodpeckers in France?
Like a middle spotted woodpecker, they have a red top to their head and similar black and white markings on the body. Though middle spotted woodpeckers are just across the Channel in northern France, because they are not migratory, they have never made it to this country.
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How can you tell a female woodpecker from a male?
Male birds have a red patch from the bill across the crown to the back of the head, while females only have red at the base of the bill and at the back of the head.
What is the difference between a male and female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker?
The male is distinguished from the female by his bright red crown. It tends to nest and feed higher up and is quieter in its tapping. Usually located by its call, and its drumming. When feeding it creeps along branches and flutters from branch to branch, flying with an undulating flight in the open.
What is the difference between a greater spotted woodpecker and a lesser spotted woodpecker?
Lesser spotted woodpeckers are small birds, roughly the same size as a sparrow. Not to be confused with: the great spotted woodpecker. Their diminutive size helps to distinguish them from their much larger cousin, which has a red rump and lacks the white bars found on the wings of the lesser spotted.
Do woodpeckers mate for life?
Most woodpecker species are monogamous and will mate for life. Some species, such as the Acorn Woodpecker are polygamous, and the female will mate with several birds during the mating season.
What Colour are female woodpeckers?
Adult female (right): Black wings, barred with white; black tail, edged with white spots. Off-white underparts, white face and crimson undertail. Black nape.
Are male woodpeckers bigger than females?
And for many birds, including most songbirds and woodpeckers, any size difference between males and females is fairly insignificant and may not be apparent unless the birds are side by side, if at all.
Are male and female woodpeckers the same Colour?
Unlike many species of birds that have pronounced difference in colors between the sexes, both males and female woodpeckers are black, red and white. Their profiles look very much alike.
What trees do woodpeckers like?
Woodpeckers like pine trees for the tasty sap and pine nuts, as well as cover and shelter. Oak trees will also encourage woodpeckers, as they enjoy eating acorns. Include dead trees too. Woodpeckers nest in snags, dead trees, and stumps.
Are great spotted woodpeckers rare?
This may have been initiated by Dutch elm disease providing an abundance of feeding opportunities. No woodpeckers breed in Ireland but the Great Spotted is a rare and irregular visitor.
What time of year do woodpeckers have babies?
Pileated woodpeckers excavated nest cavities in late March and early April, incubated eggs as early as 13 May and as late as 15 June, and fledged young between 26 June and 13 July. These birds nested at 1 year of age, and some lived at least 9 years.
Where do woodpeckers sleep?
Its function is to save energy. Most birds perch horizontally when they are sleeping, but some, such as treecreepers and woodpeckers, choose a vertical position on a tree trunk. Swifts sleep on the wing high up in the sky.
How long do baby woodpeckers stay with their mother?
Both parents feed and brood the chicks. The chicks leave the nest at 24 to 31 days old. They are strong fliers and can catch their own food soon after fledging. If chicks stay near the nest, the parents chase them away after several weeks.
How big is a Great Spotted Woodpecker?
An adult great spotted woodpecker is 20–24 cm (7.9–9.4 in) long, weighs 70–98 g (2.5–3.5 oz) and has a 34–39 cm (13–15 in) wingspan. The upperparts are glossy blue-black, with white on the sides of the face and neck. Black lines run from the shoulder to the nape, the base of the bill and about halfway across the breast.
Where do spotted woodpeckers live?
Males and young birds also have red markings on the neck or head. This species is found across the Palearctic including parts of North Africa.
What is the name of the woodpecker with the black cheek bar?
Some other species in its genus are similar to the great spotted woodpecker. The Syrian woodpecker lacks its relative's black cheek bar and has whiter underparts and paler red underparts, although juvenile great spotted woodpeckers often have an incomplete cheek bar, so can potentially be misidentified as Syrian.
Why do woodpeckers chisel?
Great spotted woodpeckers chisel into trees to find food or excavate nest holes , and also drum for contact and territorial advertisement; like other woodpeckers, they have anatomical adaptations to manage the physical stresses from the hammering action. This species is similar to the Syrian woodpecker .
What are the three subfamilies of woodpeckers?
Taxonomy. Woodpeckers are an ancient bird family consisting of three subfamilies, the wrynecks, the piculets and the true woodpeckers, Picinae . The largest of the five tribes within the Picinae is Melanerpini, the pied woodpeckers, a group which includes the great spotted woodpecker.
What bird is a host to a woodpecker?
Predators and parasites. Woodland birds of prey such as the Eurasian sparrowhawk and the northern goshawk hunt the great spotted woodpecker. This woodpecker is a host of the blood-feeding fly Carnus hemapterus, and its internal parasites may include the spiny-headed worm Prosthorhynchus transversus.
What do woodpeckers eat?
The great spotted woodpecker is omnivorous. It digs beetle larvae from trees and also takes many other invertebrates including adult beetles, ants and spiders. The bird also digs for Lepidoptera larvae like Acronicta rumicis. Crustaceans, molluscs and carrion may be eaten, and bird feeders are visited for seeds, suet and domestic scraps. The nests of other cavity-nesting birds, such as tits, may be raided for their eggs and chicks; nest boxes may be similarly attacked, holes being pecked to admit entrance by the woodpecker where necessary. House martin colonies can be destroyed in repeated visits.
How many species of woodpeckers are there in the UK?
Only two species of black and white woodpeckers occur in the UK - the great spotted and lesser spotted. In spring and summer, we often receive messages from people who are sure they have a middle spotted woodpecker in their garden.
What is a blackbird?
It has a very distinctive bouncing flight and spends most of its time clinging to tree trunks and branches, often trying to hide on the side away from the observer.
What is the UK breeding season?
UK breeding is the number of pairs breeding annually. UK wintering is the number of individuals present from October to March. UK passage is the number of individuals passing through on migration in spring and/or autumn.
What is the color of the male Great Spotted Woodpecker?
Male great spotted woodpeckers have black upperparts with white patches on the wings and white edges on the primaries. The tail is black with white spots on the outer feathers.
What do Great Spotted Woodpeckers eat?
Feeding. During breeding season great spotted woodpeckers feed mainly in trees probing for insects, ants, and beetles. Over winter they will also eat tree sap, nuts, berries, and seeds. In spring they will take the eggs and young of other birds from their nests.
How long do Great Spotted Woodpeckers lay eggs?
Great spotted woodpeckers lay 4-7 glossy white eggs which are incubated for 12-16 days by the female during the day and the male at night. Chicks are altricial and are fed by both parents. They fledge at 18-21 days after hatching but are dependent on their parents for another week, and are sexually mature at 1 year.
What is the name of the woodpecker that has a long sticky tongue?
Despite its name, the great spotted woodpecker is not that big at only about the size of a starling. It has stiff tail feathers which it uses as a prop when hopping up trees and to assist with grip, and a long, sticky tongue for extracting insects and larvae from crevices in trees.
When do Great Spotted Woodpeckers start breeding?
Breeding. Great spotted woodpeckers start breeding in mid-April and produce 1 brood a season. They are monogamous and nest in old trees in forests, parks, and gardens, using a new site each year. Both male and female excavate a hole with their bill and line it with wood chips.
What is the color of the head on a sailor's head?
On the head, the crown is black, the forehead is pale buff, and the cheeks, throat, and sides of the nape are white. There is a red patch on the back of the nape and a black moustache which extends to the nape and down to the chest.
Overview
Behaviour
The great spotted woodpecker spends much of its time climbing trees, and has adaptations to this lifestyle, many of which are shared by other woodpecker species. These include the zygodactyl arrangement of the foot, with two toes facing forward and two back, and the stiff tail feathers that are used as a prop against the trunk. In most birds the bones of the tail diminish in size towards it…
Taxonomy
Woodpeckers are an ancient bird family consisting of three subfamilies, the wrynecks, the piculets and the true woodpeckers, Picinae. The largest of the five tribes within the Picinae is Melanerpini, the pied woodpeckers, a group which includes the great spotted woodpecker. Within the genus Dendrocopus the great spotted woodpecker's closest relatives are the Himalayan, Sind, Syrian, white-winged woodpeckers and the Darjeeling woodpecker. The great spotted woodpecker has …
Description
An adult great spotted woodpecker is 20–24 cm (7.9–9.4 in) long, weighs 70–98 g (2.5–3.5 oz) and has a 34–39 cm (13–15 in) wingspan. The upperparts are glossy blue-black, with white on the sides of the face and neck. Black lines run from the shoulder to the nape, the base of the bill and about halfway across the breast. There is a large white shoulder patch and the flight feathers are bar…
Distribution and habitat
The species ranges across Eurasia from the British Isles to Japan, and in North Africa from Morocco to Tunisia; it is absent only from those areas too cold or dry to have suitable woodland habitat. It is found in a wide variety of woodlands, broadleaf, coniferous or mixed, and in modified habitats like parks, gardens and olive groves. It occurs from sea level to the tree line, up to 2,000 m (6,600 ft) in …
Status
The total population for the great spotted woodpecker is estimated at 73.7–110.3 million individuals, with 35% of the population in Europe. The breeding range is estimated as 57.8 million square kilometres (22.3 million sq mi), and the population is considered overall to be large and apparently stable or slightly increasing, especially in Britain, where the population has recently overspilled into Ireland. For this reason the great spotted woodpecker is evaluated as a species …
Cited texts
• Gorman, Gerard (2014). Woodpeckers of the World. Helm Photographic Guides. London: Christopher Helm. ISBN 978-1-4081-4715-3.
External links
• Ageing and sexing by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze (PDF; 6.3 MB)
• Xeno-canto: audio recordings of the great spotted woodpecker
• Feathers of great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major)