Juvenile female Black Woodpecker

Juvenile female Black Woodpecker Dryocopus martius. females have red only on the hind-crown, males have an all-red crown (see previous blog entry). Photo taken in Dordogne, France by Yann Cambon.

Juvenile Male Black Woodpecker

Juvenile male Black Woodpecker Dryocopus martius. Even at this age the sexes differ in plumage: females have red only on the hind-crown, males have an all-red crown. Photo taken in Dordogne, France by Yann Cambon.

Old Growth Forest

In Europe old growth mixed deciduous-conifer forest is scarce. The best remnants remain in uplands and in the east of the continent. Such forests, with lots of dead and rotting timber and hence high numbers of bark and wood-boring beetles, are the home of White-backed and Eurasian Three-toed Woodpeckers. Photo: Urwald Lahnsattel Forest, Lower Austria, taken by Gerard Gorman in May 2013.

Great Spotted Woodpecker - woodchips

Woodpeckers make no attempt to conceal the locations of their nesting holes by removing or hiding the debris that results from excavation. Wood-chips, like these below a Great Spotted Woodpecker cavity in the Buda Hills, Hungary, are simply tossed out from the hole and lie below the nesting tree. 

Woodpeckers in flight

Not all woodpeckers fly in an undulating, bounding manner, as is often stated. Around the world there are many that fly with flapping, crow-like wingbeat actions. In Europe, the Black Woodpecker is an example - its flight style often recalls a Jay or Nutcracker. Photo of this Black Woodpecker taken by the River Tisza in NE Hungary by Gerard Gorman.

The wonderful woodpecker bill

Woodpecker bills are impressive. They have evolved to be a multi-purpose tool... a hammer, a gouge, a chisel, a dagger. The bill is so important, it develops rapidly, being large and robust on nestlings even before they have grown feathers.

Syrian Woodpecker on utility-pole

Syrian Woodpecker Dendrocopus syriacus on the top of a utility-pole in a garden in Budapest. The lack of red on the hindcrown indicates a female.