Great Spotted Woodpecker
Dendrocopos major
To open cones, the great spotted woodpecker wedges them into a crevice, a so-called “anvil”, beneath which large piles of emptied cones often accumulate. Males have a red nape patch, while juveniles show an entirely red crown.
- Group
- Woodpeckers
- Photos
- 1
- Taken
- 2021
Profile: Great Spotted Woodpecker
- Family
- Woodpeckers (Picidae)
- Size
- approx. 23–26 cm
- Wingspan
- approx. 34–39 cm
- Weight
- approx. 60–90 g
- Habitat
- All kinds of woodland as well as parks and gardens with mature trees – the commonest woodpecker in Central Europe.
- Diet
- Wood-boring insect larvae, in winter mainly seeds from conifer cones, plus nuts, tree sap and occasionally eggs or nestlings of other birds.
- When to see
- Resident and seen all year; particularly conspicuous in late winter and spring when it drums.
Learn more: Wikipedia · NABU (German)