It has been a great year for me in my quest to observe, hear, photograph, sound record, and generally learn more about woodpeckers. And many thanks to everyone who contributed to this blog (Gerard Gorman). To end the year, here is a Middle Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos medius from the woods in the Buda Hills, just 10 minutes from where I am writing this.
Thursday 31 December 2015
Wednesday 2 December 2015
Saturday 26 September 2015
Friday 18 September 2015
Thursday 11 June 2015
Monday 18 May 2015
Middle Spotted Woodpecker: sexes ?
Middle Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos medius, Estonia, Gerard Gorman. The sexes are almost identical and often impossible to visually tell apart. The main difference in plumage is in the crown: both sexes have red crowns, but on females the rear crown is usually dull red, orange or yellow, on males it is red.
Friday 1 May 2015
Thursday 23 April 2015
Wednesday 15 April 2015
Tuesday 7 April 2015
Black Woodpecker nesting cavity
Nesting cavity entrance of Black Woodpecker Dryocopus martius, Hungary, April 2015. In Europe, only Black Woodpeckers make oval-shaped holes like this, in fact, the majority of the holes of this species are this shape. This one was 25m up in an old beech tree. It is fresh, new, as the wood around the rim is still clean and pale.
Sunday 22 March 2015
Tree stump shaved by White-backed Woodpecker
Tree stump worked on by White-backed Woodpecker Dendrocopos leucotos. March 21, Bukk Hills, Hungary (Gerard Gorman). In Europe only White-backed Woodpecker shaves timber in this way when looking for prey. Similar work is done by Black and Great Spotted Woodpeckers, but they tend to strip and peck panels or patches rather than totally shave whole stumps or snags from top to bottom and all around, and the beak marks they leave are more crude, not as fine.