bilder
reich
stockphotos
new photos
Animals
Amphibians
Birds
Ciconiiformes
Common cuckoo
Common swift
Coraciiformes
Crane birds
Ducks
Flamingo
Galliforms
Geese
Grebe
Owls
Pelecaniformes
Penguins
Pigeons
Raptors
Ratite
Songbirds
Wading birds
Woodpeckers
Black woodpecker
Eurasian wryneck
European green woodpecker
Great spotted woodpecker
Lesser spotted woodpecker
Middle spotted woodpecker
Corals
Crustaceans
Cuttlefish
Fish
Insects
Mammals
Portuguese man o´ war
Reptiles
Sea urchin
Snails
Spiders
Nature
Ocean
Countries & Travels
Miscellaneous
about us
welcome
nature & wildlife photography
ocean photography
landscape photography
aerial views & drone images
contact
deu
tsch
eng
lish
Facts & Profile
Middle spotted woodpecker
Dendrocopos medius
Stock Photos
The middle spotted woodpecker (Dendrocoptes medius) is a European woodpecker belonging to the genus Dendrocoptes.
Description & appearance
The middle spotted woodpecker is 20–22 cm long and has plumage similar to the great spotted woodpecker. As with that species the upperparts are predominantly black with white oval wing patches and white barring on the wings, and the underparts are white. The main differences are a red crown, lack of a black moustachial stripe, a pink vent, and dark streaks on the flanks. Although only slightly smaller than the great spotted woodpecker, it appears smaller due to its short, slender bill and more rounded, pale head. It can also be confused with the Syrian woodpecker (particularly juveniles), being distinguished from this by the smaller bill, and the red crown not having narrow black sides.
Voice, singing & call
It is rarely heard drumming, and never for territorial purposes, which it asserts by song; a slow, nasal gvayk gvayk gvayk gvayk gvayk. Calls include a fast kik kekekekek.
Distribution & habitat
The middle spotted woodpecker occurs only in Europe in the Palearctic, from northern Spain and France east to Poland and Ukraine, and south to central Italy (where local), the Balkan Peninsula, Lithuania, Latvia, Turkey, the Caucasus, and Iran.This species used to breed in Sweden but became extirpated in the '80s. However, middle spotted woodpeckers have been seen in Sweden in appropriate breeding habitats after the extirpation. Due to its sedentary nature it has never been recorded in Great Britain. It prefers deciduous forest regions, especially areas with old oak, hornbeam and elm, and a patchwork of clearings, pasture and dense woodland.
Hunting & food
The middle spotted woodpecker lives predominantly on a diet of insects as well as their larvae, which it finds by picking them from branches and twigs rather than hacking them from beneath the bark. It will also feed on tree sap. Behaviourally it likes to feed high in the trees, moving constantly and making a good view difficult.
Breeding, mating, chicks, juveniles & raise
In the breeding season it excavates a nest hole about 5 cm wide in a decaying tree trunk or thick branch. It lays four to seven eggs and incubates for 11–14 days.
Important Note:
This text is based on the article
Middle spotted woodpecker
from the free encyclopedia
Wikipedia
and is licensed under the
Creative Commons CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported
(
short version
). A list of the
authors
is available on Wikipedia.