   #copyright

Great Spotted Woodpecker

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Birds

            iGreat Spotted Woodpecker
   male
   male

                             Conservation status

   Least Concern (LC)
            Scientific classification

   Kingdom: Animalia
   Phylum:  Chordata
   Class:   Aves
   Order:   Piciformes
   Family:  Picidae
   Genus:   Dendrocopos
   Species: D. major

                                Binomial name

   Dendrocopos major
   (Linnaeus, 1758)

   The Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) is a member of the
   woodpecker family, Picidae.

Habitat

   It is distributed throughout Europe and northern Asia. It is largely
   resident except in the colder regions of its range.

   It is an inhabitant of woodlands and parks, depending for food and
   nesting sites upon old trees. It is often an inconspicuous bird, in
   spite of the plumage. The large white shoulder patch is a feature that
   catches the eye.

Description

   Great Spotted Woodpecker is 23-26 cm long, with a 38-44 cm wingspan.
   The upper parts of the male are glossy black, with a crimson spot on
   the nape and white on the sides of the face and neck. On the shoulder
   is a large white patch and the flight feathers are barred with black
   and white. The three outer tail feathers are barred; these show when
   the short stiff tail is outspread, acting as a support in climbing. The
   under parts are buffish white, the abdomen and under tail coverts
   crimson. The bill is slate black and the legs greenish grey,

   The female has no crimson on the nape, and in the young this nape spot
   is absent, but the crown is crimson. It may be distinguished from the
   smaller Lesser Spotted Woodpecker by the crimson on the abdomen.

   There are several subspecies, including the prehistoric P. m. submajor
   which lived during the last ice age.

Behaviour

   When hidden by the foliage, its presence is often advertised by the
   mechanical drumming, a vibrating rattle, produced by the rapidly
   repeated blows of strong bill upon a trunk or branch. This is not
   merely a mating call or challenge, but a signal of either sex. It is
   audible from a great distance, depending on the wind and the condition
   of the wood, a hollow bough naturally producing a louder note than
   living wood. The call is a sharp quet, quet.

   Listen to a Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming

   In summer the food mainly consists of those insects which bore into or
   otherwise damage the timber of forest trees such as the larvae of wood
   boring moths and beetles.

   The woodpecker usually alights on the trunk, working upwards, from side
   to side, but sometimes will perch in passerine style, when it sits well
   upright. During the ascent it taps the bark, breaking off fragments,
   but often extracts its prey from crevices with the tip of its sticky
   tongue. Beechmast, acorns, nuts and berries are eaten when insect food
   is scarce.

   Its actions are jerky, and it hops rather than climbs, leaping forward
   with one foot just in advance of the other. When a space is crossed the
   flight is easy and undulating.

   The nesting hole, neat and round, is bored in soft or decaying wood
   horizontally for a few inches, then perpendicularly down. At the bottom
   of a shaft, usually from six to twelve inches in depth, a small chamber
   is excavated, where on wood chips the creamy white eggs, five to seven
   in number, are laid in the second half of May.

   The hole is rarely used again, but not infrequently other holes are
   bored in the same tree. Almost any tree sufficiently rotten is used.
   The young, when the parents are feeding them, cluster at the mouth of
   the hole and keep a continuous chatter, but when alarmed slip back into
   the hole.

Photo gallery

   Female

         Young male

                   Female

                           Male

   Male

         Male

                   Juvenile
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Spotted_Woodpecker"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
