White-backed Woodpecker

Overview

The white-backed woodpecker is a Eurasian woodpecker belonging to the genus Dendrocopos. It is classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

Identification

• The largest of the spotted woodpeckers in the western Palearctic, measuring 24–26 cm in length with a wing-span of 38–40 cm.
• Plumage is similar to the great spotted woodpecker but features white bars across the wings instead of spots, and a white lower back.
• Males have a red crown, whereas females have a black one.
• Drumming by males is very loud, and calls include a soft 'kiuk' and a longer 'kweek'.

Habitat

Found across Eurasia from north, central and eastern Europe to northeast Asia, Korea and Sakhalin, with ten further races occurring in the region eastwards to Korea and Japan. It is a scarce bird that requires large tracts of mature deciduous forests with high amounts of standing and lying dead wood.

Diet

It lives predominantly on wood-boring beetles and their larvae, as well as other insects, nuts, seeds and berries.

Did you know?

While white-backed woodpeckers in the wild survive between three and four years, those in captivity can live for approximately eleven years.