Three-toed Woodpecker: distribution and range

The nominate race of this species occurs in the boreal zone, particularly the fairly continuous area from Norway eastwards through Sweden and Finland into the Russian taiga and there are scattered populations in lowland forests in the Baltic States, Poland and Belarus. The alpinus race is found in several rather fragmented populations on the main European continent including the Alps, the Black Forest, the Bavarian Forest-Sumava on the German-Czech border, the Carpathians from Slovakia to Romania, the Rodope Mountains in Bulgaria and Greece, the Balkan Range and the Dinaric Alps. It is worth noting that the Carpathian population is geographically isolated from the Alpine one by some 300-350km though the same race occurs in each. Though Poland hosts both races, their breeding ranges do not seem to overlap. The northeastern Polish population of tridactylus at Bialowieza is around 400km from the nearest alpinus birds in the Carpathians in southern Poland. The reason for the rather fragmented distribution of the alpinus race and its isolation from nominate probably lies in the distribution history of the species. Three-toed Woodpeckers most likely inhabited all of the European landmass when boreal conditions dominated. After the last Ice Age it withdrew northward in line with the retreating climate and hence forests. However some birds remained finding suitable conditions in mountainous areas such as the Carpathians, Alps and others. These populations soon became rather fragmented, with some such as on Mount Olympos in Greece, becoming highly isolated. Thus, southern populations of Three-toed Woodpeckers are glacial relicts.