Gallery: Europe's smallest woodpecker

Another shot of the adult male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos minor in the post below. At around 14-16 cm in length this is Europe's smallest woodpecker. Budapest, Hungary by Gerard Gorman.

Gallery: Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

Adult male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos minor. Photo taken recently in Budapest, Hungary by Gerard Gorman.

FESTIVE GREETINGS

Best Wishes to All for the Festive Season & New Year !
Gerard Gorman

Gallery: White-backed Woodpecker male

Male White-backed Woodpecker Dendrocopos leucotos. Bukk Hills, Hungary, November 2015 (Gerard Gorman).

Irati Forest, Spain

This new notice board at Irati Forest in Navarra, Northern Spain, shows the five woodpeckers (and information about them in English and French) present in this great habitat. Thank you to Alfonso Senosiain for the image.

Gallery: Black Woodpecker

Black Woodpecker Dryocopus martius adult male. Maliuc, Danube Delta, Romania (Eugen Petrescu).

Woodpecker damage ?

Here is a fine example of the foraging work of a Black Woodpecker Dryocopus martius. An impressively large hole has been opened up on this trunk, big enough for a man's hand to easily fit inside. Looking at this, it might be thought that the woodpecker has killed the tree.. but has it really? The tree here is also adorned with fungi and the woodpecker workings are fairly fresh, newer than the fungi. It is clear that the tree was already doomed before the woodpecker opened it up in search of the invertebrates that live inside the rotten timber. And that is the key point, that woodpeckers that hack into timber are looking for prey and most prey lives inside trees that are already dying or dead.