SEASON'S GREETINGS!

Best wishes for the Festive Season & the New Year!

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker female

This female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos minor) turned up in a patch of trees in a steppe landscape in the Kiskunság region, Hungary recently. This is a place I had never seen one before. This species is not a true migrant, but some individuals will disperse at the end of summer into autumn, appearing in places where it does not breed.

Syrian Woodpecker female

Syrian Woodpecker Dendrocopos syriacus, adult female, Budapest, Hungary, August 2016. Gerard Gorman.

Middle Spotted Woodpecker

A posing Middle Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos medius, Gerard Gorman.

Woodpeckers in Myth, Legend and Folkore

If you are in the UK this summer, and attending the British Birdwatching Fair at Rutland Water, then please drop by for my talk on woodpeckers. Click this safe link for full details!

http://www.birdfair.org.uk/events/woodpeckers-myth-legend-folklore-gerard-gorman/

Book: Developments in Woodpecker Biology

This recently published book contains 8 papers by different authors on a range of subjects including woodpecker systematics, morphology, cognition, ecology, breeding biology and population densities. It is edited by Hans Winkler and published by the Biologiezentrum des Oberosterreichischen Landesmuseum in Linz, Austria. I am honoured to have a paper of my own included: Foraging signs and cavities of some European woodpeckers (Picidae): Identifying the clues that lead to establishing the presence of species. Gerard Gorman.

White-backed Woodpecker male

White-backed Woodpecker Dendrocopos leucotos, adult male. Nominate race leucotos. Hungary, May, 2016. Photo by Gerard Gorman.

Syrian Woodpecker

Syrian Woodpecker Dendrocopos syriacus, Hungary, May, 2016. Photo by Gerard Gorman.

Bialowieza Forest, Poland

Please follow the link, read and sign the petition. A wonderful (woodpecker-filled) forest is in danger...

BIALOWIEZA FOREST IN DANGER.

Black Woodpecker with partially brown plumage

Black Woodpecker Dryocopus martius. A bird moulting with heavy brown tones in the wings. Photo by Yann Cambon, Connezac, France.

Woodpecker cartoons

The work of Finnish cartoonist Seppo Leinonen simply but wonderfully highlights many issues concerning forests, woodpeckers and the overall environment. Check it out here:
http://www.seppo.net/e/