| White-backed woodpecker | |
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| Male | |
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| Female | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Piciformes |
| Family: | Picidae |
| Genus: | Dendrocopos |
| Species: | D. leucotos |
| Binomial name | |
| Dendrocopos leucotos (Bechstein, 1802) | |
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| White-backed Woodpecker range [2] | |
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| White-backed Woodpecker range in Europe and western Asia [2] | |
The white-backed woodpecker (Dendrocopos leucotos) is a Eurasian woodpecker belonging to the genus Dendrocopos.
The white-backed woodpecker was described by the German naturalist Johann Matthäus Bechstein in 1802 under the binomial name Picus leucotos. [3] The specific epithet leucotos combines the Classical Greek leukos meaning "white" and -nōtos meaning "-backed". [4] The type locality is Silesia, a historical region mainly located in Poland. [5] The species is now placed in the genus Dendrocopos that was introduced by the German naturalist Carl Ludwig Koch in 1816. [6] [7]
Twelve subspecies are recognised. [7]
The subspecies D. l. owstoni is sometimes considered a distinct species, the Amami woodpecker. [8]
It is the largest of the spotted woodpeckers in the western Palearctic, 24–26 cm long with wing-span 38–40 cm. The plumage is similar to the great spotted woodpecker, but with white bars across the wings rather than spots, and a white lower back. The male has a red crown, the female a black one. [9] Drumming by males is very loud, calls include a soft kiuk and a longer kweek.
The nominate race D. l. leucotos occurs in central and northern Europe, with the race D. l. lilfordi found in the Balkans and Turkey. Ten further races occur in the region eastwards as far as Korea and Japan. It is a scarce bird, requiring large tracts of mature deciduous forests with high amounts of standing and laying dead wood. Numbers have decreased in Nordic countries. In Sweden, its population decline has caused the Swedish government to enact protection for the species in the national Biodiversity Action Plan. [10]
In the breeding season it excavates a nest hole about 7 cm wide and 30 cm deep in a decaying tree trunk. It lays three to five white eggs and incubates for 10–11 days. It lives predominantly on wood-boring beetles as well as their larvae, as well as other insects, nuts, seeds and berries.
In the wild the white-backed Woodpecker (Dendrocopos leucotos) can survive between three and four years, while in captivity they can survive for approximately eleven years. [11]
The great spotted woodpecker is a medium-sized woodpecker with pied black and white plumage and a red patch on the lower belly. Males and young birds also have red markings on the neck or head. This species is found across the Palearctic including parts of North Africa. Across most of its range it is resident, but in the north some will migrate if the conifer cone crop fails. Some individuals have a tendency to wander, leading to the recent recolonisation of Ireland and to vagrancy to North America. Great spotted woodpeckers chisel into trees to find food or excavate nest holes, and also drum for contact and territorial advertisement; like other woodpeckers, they have anatomical adaptations to manage the physical stresses from the hammering action. This species is similar to the Syrian woodpecker.
The lesser spotted woodpecker is a member of the woodpecker family Picidae. It was formerly assigned to the genus Dendrocopos. Some taxonomic authorities continue to list the species there.
The rock ptarmigan is a medium-sized game bird in the grouse family. It is known simply as the ptarmigan in the UK. It is the official bird for the Canadian territory of Nunavut, where it is known as the aqiggiq (ᐊᕿᒡᒋᖅ), and the official game bird for the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. In Japan, it is known as the raichō (雷鳥), which means "thunder bird". It is the official bird of Gifu, Nagano, and Toyama Prefectures and is a protected species nationwide. Unlike many arctic bird species, ptarmigan do not gain substantial mass to hibernate over winter.
The black woodpecker is a large woodpecker that lives in mature forests across the northern Palearctic. It is the sole representative of its genus in that region. Its range is expanding. The black woodpecker is easily the largest woodpecker species in Europe as well as in the portion of Asia where it lives and is one of the largest species worldwide. This non-migratory species tends to make its home in old-growth forest or large forest stands and excavates a large tree hole to reside in. In turn, several species rely on black woodpeckers to secondarily reside in the holes made in trees by them. This woodpeckers diet consists mostly of carpenter ants. This species is closely related to, and fills the same ecological niche in Europe as, the pileated woodpecker of North America and the lineated woodpecker of South America, also being similar to the white-bellied woodpecker which is distributed to the south somewhat of the black woodpecker in Asia.
The common whitethroat or greater whitethroat is a common and widespread typical warbler which breeds throughout Europe and across much of temperate western Asia. This small passerine bird is strongly migratory, and winters in tropical Africa, Arabia, and Pakistan.
The hairy woodpecker is a medium-sized woodpecker that is found over a large area of North America. It is approximately 250 mm (9.8 in) in length with a 380 mm (15 in) wingspan. With an estimated population in 2020 of almost nine million individuals, the hairy woodpecker is listed by the IUCN as a species of least concern. Some nomenclature authorities, such as the eBird/Clements checklist, place this species in the genus Dryobates.
The downy woodpecker is a species of woodpecker, the smallest in North America. Length ranges from 14 to 18 cm. Downy woodpeckers primarily live in forested areas throughout the United States and Canada, with the exception of deserts in the southwest and the northern tundra. The bird nests in tree cavities and feeds primarily on insects, although it supplements its diet with seeds and berries. Downy woodpeckers are native predators of the European corn borer, contributing to controlling this invasive species.
The Eurasian three-toed woodpecker is a medium-sized woodpecker that is found from northern Europe across northern Asia to Japan.
The Okinawa woodpecker , is a woodpecker endemic to the Okinawa Prefecture of Japan.
The middle spotted woodpecker is a European woodpecker belonging to the genus Dendrocoptes.
The Syrian woodpecker is a member of the woodpecker family, the Picidae.
The grey-headed woodpecker, also known as the grey-faced woodpecker, is a Eurasian member of the woodpecker family, Picidae. Along with the more commonly found European green woodpecker and the Iberian green woodpecker, it is one of three closely related sister species found in Europe. Its distribution stretches across large parts of the central and Eastern Palaearctic, all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
The Nansei Islands subtropical evergreen forests is a terrestrial ecoregion of the Ryukyu Islands, also known as the Nansei Islands, in Japan. The Nansei Islands are an island arc that stretches southwest from Kyushu towards Taiwan. The larger islands are mostly volcanic islands and the smaller ones mostly coral. The largest is Okinawa Island. The highest point is Mount Miyanoura on Yakushima Island at 1,936 metres.
The varied tit is a perching bird from the tit family, Paridae. It occurs in the eastern Palearctic in Japan, Korea, and locally in northeastern China and extreme southeastern Russia.
The Japanese pygmy woodpecker or pygmy woodpecker is a species of woodpecker. It is found in coniferous and deciduous forests in Russia, China, Korea and Japan. This species has also been placed in the genus Dendrocopos or Picoides. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed it as a least-concern species.
Ijima's leaf warbler is a species of Old World warbler in the family Phylloscopidae. The species is native to Japan, where it has been designated a Natural Monument under the 1950 Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties, with records also from Taiwan and the Philippines.
The stripe-breasted woodpecker is a species of bird in the woodpecker family, Picidae. It is found in Southeast Asia within subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest.
The rufous-bellied woodpecker or rufous-bellied sapsucker is a species of bird in the family Picidae. This woodpecker has a habit of making a series of small pits on the bark of trees leading to its being considered an Asiatic member of the sapsuckers in the past. It is found along the Himalayas in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, ranging across Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Korea, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Manchuria, Ussuriland and Vietnam. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.
Prioksko-Terrasny Nature Biosphere Reserve is one of Russia's smallest zapovedniks, sprawling over an area of 5,000 hectares along the left bank of the Oka River in the Serpukhov District of Moskva Oblast. It was established in 1945 as part of the Moscow Nature Reserve and is home to 900 plant species, 130 bird species, and 54 mammal species. A wisent nursery was established in 1948 to populate the region with European bison from the Belovezhskaya Pushcha and Western Caucasus. There is also a small herd of American bison.
| Authority control: National |
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