Great spotted woodpecker

    Dendrocopos major

Castilian: Pico picapinos

Catalan: Picot garser gros

Gallego: Peto real

Euskera: Okil handia

CLASIFICACIÓN:

Orden: Piciformes

Family: Picidae

Migratory status: Permanent resident

CONSERVATION STATUS:

On the National List of Threatened Species, it appears in the “Of Special Interest” category.

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THREATS

Fires, tree felling, and the elimination of dead trees have caused a decline in this species' population.

Length / size: 23-26 cm / 38-44 cm

Identification: Wryneck that shares the typical bill colouration. Its back is white and black with a characteristic pattern, and its underparts are white with a reddish anal area. It has black stripes on both sides of its face and neck that are connected to its breast, bill, shoulders and nape. The difference between the two sexes is found in the colour of the nape: it is red in males and black in females.

Song: It makes a loud "cheek-cheek" sound that it repeats at certain rhythms.

Diet: It feeds on insect larvae that it finds by digging with its bill inside wood or under the bark; in winter its diet includes dry fruits, acorns, or hazelnuts that it opens by putting them in the bark of a tree and drilling the shell. It likes the pine sap, rich in minerals and sugars, that it obtains by making a small hole in the trunk and sucking it out.

Reproduction: Construction of the nest begins in May; it is a deep tunnel made in the wood of a tree. Both parents incubate the eggs and feed the chicks.

HABITAT

It is highly adaptable due to its ability to work with almost any kind of wood. It occupies all kinds of forest formations with certain maturity levels, open or closed, preferring dense coniferous forests. It usually breeds between sea level to an elevation of more than 2,000 metres in the Pyrenees.

DISTRIBUTION

In Spain: It is distributed throughout the entire peninsula, although it is most abundant in the northern half of the peninsula.

In Castile and León: It is distributed throughout the entire community.

Movements and migrations: Only the northernmost populations make short movements when conditions are unfavourable.

POPULATION

In Spain: There is an estimated population of 143000-190000 breeding pairs.

In Castile and León: There is an estimated population of more than 10000 breeding pairs.