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Grey-headed Woodpecker

Grey-headed Woodpecker

Picus canus

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The Grey-headed Woodpecker is a medium-sized green woodpecker with a plain grey head, closely related to the European Green Woodpecker. It ranges from central and northern Europe across temperate Asia to the Pacific, south to the Himalaya and Malay Peninsula. It favours mature deciduous and mixed woods with plenty of dead wood, where it feeds largely on ants. It has declined in many areas.

Did you know?

  • It sometimes drums on metal surfaces and may return to the same “drum” for years.
  • Its long, sticky tongue extends far beyond the bill tip to reach ants.

Voice

Call

About the species

Identification

Greyish-green above and pale grey below. The head is grey with narrow black moustache stripes; the male has a red patch on the forehead, the female none. In flight it shows a yellowish rump, and its flight is undulating. Compared with Green Woodpecker it is slightly smaller: the male's red is limited to the forehead (not the whole crown), there is less black around the eye, the bill is thinner and the head rounder.

Family

Picidae

Size

Medium (thrush)

Colours

green, grey, red, yellow, black

About the habitat

Mature deciduous and mixed forest rich in dead wood, riverside woods, forest edges, clearings, large parks and orchards; in the north often aspen, birch and alder stands.

Diet

Mainly ants – adults, larvae and pupae – taken from the ground, rotting wood and anthills with its long, sticky tongue; also other insects and larvae, and berries and fruit outside the breeding season.

Behaviour

Often feeds on the ground or on decaying stumps, but also climbs trunks. Its song is a far-carrying, melodious series of whistles that slows and falls in pitch. Both sexes drum, often on resonant sites such as metal roof covers, which they may use for years. It excavates nest holes in dead or decaying trees, especially aspen. Mostly sedentary.

Sources

Photo: Andrey Tsvirenko, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Седой дятел.jpg

Sound: Alexander Kürthy, XC310920, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://xeno-canto.org/310920

Text: Wikipedia (English) + FinBIF species descriptions, CC BY-SA 4.0; FinBIF: CC BY 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey-headed_woodpecker

See also